Tension
by Saladore
Summary: Tensions are running high. A heatwave hits the city as the mayoral elections get into full swing. Officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are tasked with keeping the peace between a city ready to boil over. Their job isn't made any easier by the myriad of new criminals flocking to the city and a dead body turning up in an inconvenient place.
1. Chapter 1

Zootopia buzzed with activity. The heat had been climbing for weeks; every district felt like Sahara Square and word had it that the maintenance teams for the Tundratown coolers were working back to back shifts just to keep the things limping along. The streets heaved with mammals as tides of herds, packs and the occasional loner washed through the city, flooding each street and alleyway. The mayoral election were in full swing and after the scandals of the Lionheart and Bellweather administrations the race had taken on a vicious edge as candidates looked for any dark secret or past mistake their opponents may be hiding.

And yet, even in times such as these, there were some things that never changed.

In Sahara Square there was one street in particular that was suspiciously quiet. It wasn't deserted, but a certain atmosphere of menace seemed to permeate the air. This was not a street one would bustle down without good reason and one _especially_ wouldn't bustle into the rather nondescript, dimly-lit bar sitting in the middle of the row of abandoned shopfronts and discount stores, for if you found yourself bustling into this place uninvited you ran the considerable risk of not being able to bustle your way back out.

It was known among the local underworld to be filled with some of the most bloody-minded people in the city and common criminals avoided it like the plague,

Unfortunately for Geoffrey Hall, he and his gang were rather new to the town and hadn't had the chance to be briefed on just how dangerous this place was. To be fair, even if he had known it probably wouldn't have deterred him. Encouraged him, perhaps, he just would have better prepared himself. For Geoffrey Hall was one of those lucky few whose ignorance and confidence were so startling immense that they mixed together in some sort of alchemical reaction that seemed to warp reality around him. His gang followed him with a sort of morbid curiosity, unable to believe the things he managed to get away with armed only with a winning smile and a foolishness so overflowing it came around the other side and looked like a kind of wisdom in the right light.

Like that time they'd robbed Downtown Charlie's gambling den on Charlie's birthday. No-one dared to cross Charlie, the wolverine was notorious for never forgetting a slight and they'd just waltzed into his own place to rob him. They'd managed to get away with an entire month's takings and a furious Charlie swearing he'd have their hides for floor rugs. But just as the gang was fleeing out the back, a task force called by the commotion had stormed the den and arrested everyone still in the place, including most of the members of Charlie's upper management. Even then they wouldn't have got far, but several of his lieutenants jumped at the deals offered and now Charlie wouldn't see the light of day until he was an old, old wolverine. As the struggle for the new leader of the organization continued, most forgot about Hall and his gang. Those who did remember were grateful for the opportunity he'd provided.

It sometimes felt to the gang that the universe took pity on the reckless mule and went out of its way to make things work for him. They believed that if Geoffrey tripped and fell off a cliff, his fall would be cushioned by sacks of dollar bills. Regardless, he had established himself as a figure of some renown within the underworld community.

The group scurried down the strangely quiet street. Well, they scurried while Geoffrey… it was hard to tell what Geoffrey was doing, it seemed like he had difficulty deciding between a strut and a swagger and seemed to be doing his best to combine them both into one walk; it was less than elegant but it somehow suited his gangly frame. His ratty, green frock coat flapped behind him and his completely unnecessary cane clicking on the pavement with each step.

The gang's eyes darted to the quiet buildings on either side of the street, noticing a few lights on in some of the upper rooms, but no other activity. The sign-less building they were passing seemed to be the only place open at this time of night.

Geoffrey had noticed how quiet the street was and took it as his naturally charmed life once again providing his due rewards. He and his boys had been wandering around the city for hours now, having arrived in the city earlier that afternoon by train, getting accustomed to the feel of the city and looking for an opportunity to make their first mark.

Noticing the lone building, he walked up to one of the small windows through which the light inside the building was desperately trying to escape. No mule for subtlety, Geoffrey practically wiped his face across the glass, trying to peer in but seeing little of substance through the grimy window other than that it appeared to be a bar and was considerably full.

Walking back to the edge of the pavement he looked up and down the street, satisfied that the bar was suitably isolated and that they were unlikely to be uninterrupted once they got going. He spun around to his patiently watching crew and stuck a pose. They were all pretty sure that he practiced these in front of a mirror when he was alone.

"Alright, my fine friends, ready for a little work?" he asked.

A look of uncertainty passed between the gang.

"This place? Ain't it a little…" said Trevor the stoat as he rolled his shoulders uncertainly.

"Rundown? I mean, how much cash are they really gonna have on them, Geoff?" added Kevin, a rather greasy looking ibex who looked as if might of heard of a bath before, but that was probably the closest he'd ever come to one.

Geoffrey frowned in disappointment at Kevin, which was one of the toughest parts about working for the foppish mule. He didn't get angry with them, he got _disappointed_. It was like working for your mother. Kevin sighed wearily, struggling not to roll his eyes.

"Sorry, but they're not going to have a lot of cash, are they _Geoffrey?'_

The cheery grin returned to his face as the mule spun and raised both hands to take in the dismal little building in front of them. "This isn't about the big score, boys, this is just our welcome to the city. We'll pick up a little scratch here, get out names out there and then we can go and get properly tooled up for some proper work. You don't see Rufus complaining, do you?"

The trio turned to look at the fourth member of the group, a large bison that loomed over them all, he was so large that he seemed to be in a permeant loom. Looming was his resting state. He blinked heavily at the three of them with a look that saw little to interest him and then went back to staring blankly at nothing.

"Yeah, well Rufus never complains cus Rufus' brain runs about five minutes behind the rest of reality most times, doesn't it?" said Trevor.

He eyed the bison. He knew Rufus wasn't stupid, even though he looked like he'd rather eat a book then read one. It was just whenever they weren't actively working the bison seemed to have all reaction time and wit of a rock. Which was what it made it so odd when they went on a job; it was just like someone flipped a switch and he'd be just as sharp as the rest of them. Trevor had begun to suspect that the bison was just so lazy that he'd managed to perfect some sort of way to shut his brain off so he didn't have to use it except when he absolutely had to. God knew that thinking tired Trevor out, that's why he mostly left it up to Geoffrey.

"Now, now, none of that, all of us have our faults." As he said this the mule pulled the stoat and the ibex in from behind for a comradely hug, waving at Rufus to join them to no avail. The two smaller animals struggled futilely as they dangled in his firm grip. 'But together we cover for each other, together we've hit every town and city of note on this coast, together we're going to rob Zootopia blind! Am I right?"

Trevor and Kevin hung limply, doing their best not to look at each other in their equally embarrassing situation, mumbling an unintelligible agreement, somehow inspired by the mule's speech despite the gut-wrenching humiliation.

"They say in this city anyone can be anything, well we're going to be bloody infamous!"

Geoffrey loosened his grip and they scrambled free, falling to the ground, coughing and tugging at their clothes for an embarrassed moment before turning back to their leader.

"Fair enough, fair enough," grumbled Kevin, "but we'd better get a move on then, while it's still quiet."

Geoffrey nodded graciously and pulled out a pocket mirror to examine himself, preening and making sure he looked his best as his gang pulled out an assortment of knives, brass knuckles and cudgels. Not enough to scare anyone serious, but certainly enough to handle a bar full of civilians.

"Now then, we've done this a thousand times, you all know your roles. In and out, keep them scared, keep them in line and keep casualties low. Let's be classy about this." He shot a warning glance at Trevor, "That means no more of those improvised jokes about the tiny pianist."

Trevor lowered his head and mumbled, "Sheila thought it was really funny…"

"Sheila is a delightful girl but she's paid to find you amusing, just stick with the approved banter. We want to make a good first impression on this town."

They all nodded as he ran through the familiar spiel, hopping and shaking limbs to loosen themselves up before following the mule as he swept grandly through the battered door and into the dimly lit bar.

* * *

Judy stabbed at her fork at her dinner with a little too much enthusiasm.

"All I'm saying is that if you keep on with the snarky comments in the briefings we're going to be stuck on the night shift until retirement." She punctuated the statement with a thrust of her fork at the fox sitting opposite her, salad dressing flying across the table at him.

Nick was gingerly lifting the edge of the lettuce on top of his meal, examining with considerable doubt the supposed food beneath. "Is this really edible? I can't even tell what this is." He poked at the greyish-purple heap which jiggled ominously. He was sure that he'd caught it moving out of the corner of his eye, but his mind denied the possibility that there might be something in the world that looked like that and could possibly come after him for revenge.

Judy rolled her eyes, "I never thought Slick Nick would be such a picky eater." She crunched at her salad, or tried to, but it was so drenched in oil and grease that it just made and unpleasant squelching noise.

"What can I say? My body is a temple."

"To what? Debauchery?"

Nick grinned and shrugged, shutting his eyes as he brought his own fork to his mouth in a move he was sure he was going to regret. He grimaced for a moment as he chewed for a few moments before swallowing.

"See? Not so bad, right?" asked Judy.

"I can't tell if it's just bland or if all my tastebuds have just shut down in a desperate attempt to save me from the taste."

Judy grinned and threw a napkin at him, "Oh grow up, fox."

Nick smirked back but kept eating, "I'm serious, I think my tongue is going numb. Why are we even eating here anyway? I know a thousand joints in this city better than this dive."

"Better get used to it Nick, you're a cop now and this is our official watering hole."

The bar was almost entirely full of cops; either just off their shift or, like them, grabbing a quick bite during the night shift. The conversation never seemed to rise above a low background murmur; this was a place to come fortify yourself before the job or to help you forget some of the casual tragedies you might see on patrol. It wasn't a place for an exciting night out.

The already dim light of the bar was further darkened as a shadow fell across their booth. They both looked up at the massive elderly hippo towering over them, clad in the dirtiest apron Nick had ever seen, his sleeves rolled to his elbows and a grimy cloth in his hand.

"Tony!" Judy beamed up cheerfully at the barman.

The hippo was just as much a fixture of the building as the ancient tables or the rows of unlabeled bottles behind the bar. There were other staff, but no matter what hour you came in, Tony would be there. It was widely known he was he had been a sergeant back when Bogo had first joined up, but as to what had led him to working at the bar, no-one knew which of a dozen theories was the correct one. Or if any of them were even correct.

"Hey Hopps, how's the salad?"

"You're getting better, I'm _almost_ sure I won't get food poisoning this time."

The hippo barked a laugh that reverberated throughout the bar, playfully swinging a meaty fist to cuff her round the ears that she casually ducked, grinning back.

"What happened to that polite little bunny that came in here this first month on the job? Hope this fox isn't having a bad influence on you." He turned his gaze to Nick as he tucked his washcloth into his apron and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Wilde, been hearing some buzz that a fox was going through the academy. Well done on making it."

The smile stayed on Nick's face, but took on a slightly frozen air at the backhanded compliment. "You too Tony, it's rare that I meet someone so non-patronizing." He held out his paw and was surprised to find the hippo didn't try to crush his fingers in the handshake, though he was clearly capable of it; the hippo's arms were as thick as tree-trunks. Judy darted a glance at Nick when she heard the familiar phrase, but said nothing as Tony bellowed another laugh.

"A sarcastic fox? Will wonders never cease? Can I get either of you something to drink?"

Judy shook her head, "No thanks, we've the rest of our shift ahead of us, just wanted to show Nick the place."

He nodded at Judy and moved on to another booth to chat with McHorn and Grizzoli.

"Friendly guy." Nick went back to picking at his meal, no more enthusiastic than before, but focused on it as if expecting it to suddenly get up from his plate and walk off. A pregnant silence stretched between them for a moment.

"Tony didn't mean anything by that, he just likes to poke a little-"

Nick looked up, a little shocked at the faint note of apology in Judy's voice. "Woah, Fluff, it's fine, I'm not made of glass you know? I know how to take a joke."

Ever since he'd officially reported to Precinct One earlier that week she'd been going out of her way to bring him around and introduce him to everyone. She was obviously eager for him to be accepted by his new coworkers and had boasted about him like a proud mother talking about their kits school achievements. Most of the officers treated him cordially, he even received a few sympathetic looks as he was slowly roasted on the fires of Judy's humiliatingly earnest praise.

He had been surprised to find that he could put up with snide remarks or cutting jokes much easier than honest admiration. After spending a little time in the locker room and hearing the barbs traded between the other officers on topics ranging from species to parentage he was happy enough to roll with the punches, quite pleased that he didn't seem to be treated any differently than the others. Sure he was a sneaky fox, but the wolves were idiots, the lions were arrogant and the rhinos… well, everyone knew what they said about rhinos. A few of the officers were a little _too_ hostile, but on the whole, he felt like just another cop.

He'd long gotten over that disaster of a press conference. Mostly. But it seemed that Judy had yet to fully forgive herself for her poorly chosen statements. Most of the time it didn't matter, but at times it was like she was treading on eggshells around him and that made him just as twitchy in return. Thankfully she seemed to be mellowing out as time passed and the event became a hazy memory. She'd gotten past the self-loathing phase and had moved on to jumping to his defense at any perceived slight. _Progress._ Now that they were partnered together fulltime they could hopefully get back into their comfortable dynamic that had helped them crack their first case together.

"What makes you think that isn't my plan anyway?" He asked, throwing her a lifeline.

She looked back up at him, her eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Do you really think Nick Wilde, criminal mastermind, would be on the night shift if he didn't want to be?"

"You-" She shook her head, clearing her head of the awkwardness and thinking back to their earlier conversation. "You want the night shift? No-one _wants_ the night shift!"

"What can I say? Maybe not all foxes are shifty, nocturnal skulkers, but I'm really more of a night person. And I get to have a little fun with Bogo and get away with it too." He waggled his eyebrows at her and took a satisfied bite of the purple mess, his face grimacing as he was suddenly felt something completely alien on his tongue and was left with the option of swallowing and hoping for the best or spitting it out and having to face whatever horror had been in his mouth. He chose ignorance and swallowed.

Judy laughed at the look of horror that crossed his face, well acquainted with the 'eccentricities' of Tony's cooking. "You sly fox. I'd tell Bogo, but I admit I prefer the night shift at the moment. All the really interesting cases turn up around now, the day shift have their hands full with crowd control at the rallies. And speaking of our shift, we'd better get back to it."

Suddenly, the door to the bar was flung open.

* * *

Geoffrey walked in a few feet before planting himself proudly, back straight, his cane cracking loudly into the ground demanding the attention of everyone in the bar as he threw his other hand out theatrically. The low murmuring of conversation was abruptly cut off as his friends flowed around him and deeper into the bar, spacing themselves out evenly to try and cover all the bar patrons.

"Ladies and gents, you have my very best congratulations for you have the most esteemed honor of having drawn the attention of myself, Geoffrey the Gent, and my very good friends, Trevor, Kevin and Rufus."

"Uh, Geoff…"

He began to pace along the bar, flourishing his cane as he really began to enjoy himself. "We're famed from north to south as the very best of criminals. I defy you to find a city within 200 miles that hasn't felt the touch of our craft. And you now have the very good fortune of financing our work here in your very own Zootopia!"

" _Geoff_ …"

"Not everyone has this honor, you know? Most people, when robbed, have to settle for petty thugs. With us, you can be secure in the knowledge that you are contributing to the pockets of mammals with class. With breeding. With grand plans. One day you will have the opportunity to point at us in the newspaper or on the television and tell your children ' _I_ helped them get to where they are today."

 _"Geoffrey,"_ whined Trevor.

"So if you'll just place all valuables into the bags as my companions round your tables we can finish this with no harm to you and we'll be on our merry way. Sound good?"

A deafening silence answered him for a long moment.

"Oh, Geoff, you utter dickhead…" muttered Kevin.

Geoffrey glared over at Kevin, he really was being _unprofessional_ , a most damning accusation in Geoffrey's mind.

He turned his gaze back to the watching crowd, bowing with a look of apology plastered across his face, like an actor apologizing for a colleague who had forgotten their lines. He liked to give people a show; money was nice, but what Geoffrey really thrived on was admiration. He took pride that most of the people he robbed seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience.

As he straightened up he truly looked at his 'audience' for the first time. They were wearing a surprising amount of blue.

A tableau of two dozen cops stared at him with looks of absolute crogglement. Utter stillness descended on the bar for a full ten seconds before a tiger seated near the entrance leaned over slowly and bolted the bar door before leaning back to watch what happened next. The bolt sounded like a nail being hammered into a coffin.

"Oh." Geoffrey took a deep breath, his eyes darting back and forth. "Dear."

The silence continued. Trevor was glancing around nervously, Kevin had dropped his knife and had covered his eyes with one hand and Rufus looked like he'd never bothered to turn on his brain. What was the point, really?

A lone snicker started up somewhere near the back of the bar, breaking the spell that had been holding everyone. A bellowing snort joined it and within moments the entire bar was alive with the sound of raucous laughter as they pounded on the tables with hoof, paw and claw. The cops went wild, dust falling from the rafters as the entire building trembled with their amusement. The larger mammals bawled loudly as a few wolf officers howled and catcalled the unfortunate gang.

Geoffrey looked around the rioting crowd, surprised to find himself quite enjoying it. Not _quite_ the reaction he had been hoping to get, but it was definitely as a memorable way to start his career in Zootopia. All he had to do was figure out how he was going to get out of here and he'd have quite a story to tell. His eyes darted around looking for an opportunity. Thankfully no-one seemed to be in a rush to detain them as there seemed no chance of them escaping. But if Geoffrey had learned anything in his many years of crime, fate always provided him a way out of a sticky situation, all he had to do was find it.

His eyes passed over an empty booth he was standing next to before darting back to it. It wasn't empty; it's just that the two officers there were much smaller than the rest of their colleagues. A small red fox whose jaw was hanging open in disbelief at the stupidity of the gang and an even smaller rabbit officer who was _just_ within arm's reach.

His practiced and professional grin returned to his face as he leaned over and plucked the rabbit out of her seat, holding her by the scruff of her Kevlar vest. His other hand deftly twisted the top of his cane which popped off, revealing a knife only a few inches long but decidedly sharp.

The bar suddenly quieted again as he took a step or two back, his confidence returning. "Gents. Ladies. It appears we've made a wrong turn. As I said, we are rather new in town and it appears we have chosen out first venue a little… unwisely. My apologies for interrupting your evening but we'll just be on our way with your lovely friend here." He waggled his blade at the watching crowd, warning them not to move. "No need to worry about her, once we're safely away you have my word she will be released completely unharmed."

Trevor and Kevin had scurried over to stand behind Geoffrey, sheltering in his shadow. Rufus plodded over at a slower pace, still running on low-power mode.

Geoffrey studied the crowd to make sure they understood. There was something…. odd about them. They didn't seem nervous or worried for their friend at all. Some were leaning on the table with chins resting in their hands; a few were nudging each other and trying to stifle chuckles. Some had even started drinking again! It was like they were a crowd waiting for the next punch line in a show. Maybe this rabbit wasn't very popular?

He frowned and waved his knife a little more theatrically, wanting to make sure everyone could see it, the grim light of the bar bouncing off it dully. "I'm serious, people. I am not a violent mule but I'll do what must be done. Nobody leaves their seat for, say, five minutes. If anyone tries to come after us… well, I'm afraid your little bunny mascot won't be coming back to you in such a cute state." _Yes,_ he thought, _that sounded suitably menacing. Gosh, I'm good._

A mist of beer suddenly sprayed through the air as several of the cops who had gone back to drinking suddenly did spit-takes. The laughter arose again, if anything, louder than before. Some collapsed into each other's arms, propping each other up. Several appeared to be crying, _crying,_ with laughter. The fox seemed to be having convulsions; he was lying on his side and clutching his stomach, howling with laughter every time he looked back up at his friend held a knifepoint.

Geoffrey edged closer to his gang, truly unnerved for the first time he could remember. _These animals are_ absolutely _insane._ There was something else odd about their laughter, it didn't seem to be quite directed at him, but rather the little rabbit dangling in his outstretched hand.

He let the rabbit slowly twist in his hoof until she was facing him. He rather wished he hadn't. Her shoulders were tense and her ears pressed flat down against the back of her head. She was just a tiny little rabbit. But that look…

That look promised revenge.

That look promised _vengeance_.

That look promised the destruction of his body, the scattering of his ashes and the obliteration of his soul.

Perhaps choosing this bar _had_ been a mistake.

* * *

Judy trembled like an overpowered dynamo ready to explode. It was harder to tell if she was more fueled by anger or embarrassment. Her foot beat furiously at the air, fast as a hummingbird's wings; if she'd been on the ground the floorboards would be shuddering.

As the mule flinched back from her death-glare she reached up and unsnapped her shoulder strap, going limp and slipping out of it with ease. Before the mule even had a chance to look down she landed in a crouch, lifted one leg and kicked with every ounce of strength she had. The heel of her foot cracked into the side of the mule's ankle, sending him sprawling sideways with an agonized squawk.

The mule stared up in her in horror as she leapt at his now conveniently accessible face, wilder than if she'd been hit with a dozen Nighthowler pellets. She was inches away from her prey when she felt a pair of arms sliding under hers and pulling her back from her target.

She found herself held aloft by a laughing Nick as she kicked furiously toward the mule. He had suddenly appeared behind her and had obviously been ready to move when she had provided the chance. Similarly, McHorn, Rhinowitz and Grizzoli had erupted from their seats; a mountain of fur and hide barreling forward to take down the other three members of the gang, though they provided little resistance as the still laughing cops tackled them.

"Easy, Carrots, easy, you don't want to have a stroke, do you? Breathe with me, come on. In- haaaah, and out- haaaaah!"

"Damn, Wilde, I thought you were supposed to be the savage one in that partnership!" Wolford howled through tears of laughter from the other end of the bar.

Fangmeyer whacked Wolford on the shoulder, "What are you talking about? Hopps ain't savage! She's cute!"

The bar erupted in a new round of laughter and cheers. Within moments the entire bar was chanting "Cute! Cute! Cute!" Pounding whatever surface was closest with each syllable roared. Judy hung limply in Nick's grip, her head hung low for a few verses before her shoulders began to shake. Nick peered round to look at her face, seeing her eyes closed and a grin spread across her face, her face flushed with a happy embarrassment.

He set her down gingerly, ready to scoop her up again if she went for the still dazed Geoffrey. She just stood with her head down before raising her arms in a weak victory pose, eliciting another cheer from the crowd along with a few wolf whistles before everyone began to gather around the cowering unfortunate gang.

Grizzoli and McHorn pushed the last of the gang into the back of Nick and Judy's cruiser. It had taken a while to get the gang out of the bar as a lot of the cops had insisted on getting pictures taken with them. They'd also been given a standing invitation to come back whenever they got free; something rare for any civilian, never mind active criminals. It had been generally agreed that the gang had earned it.

"Thanks guys," said Nick as he walked around to the passenger side and threw them a lazy salute. "Enjoy the rest of the night."

McHorn grinned as he walked backwards to the bar, "How could we not after that? You two stay safe out there." As they opened the bar to the door the chanting of another "Cute! Cute! Cute!" escaped before the door closed behind them.

Judy hopped behind the wheel, turning on the engine as she belted up. Her head snapped around to shoot a glare at the cowed prisoners in the back who flinched as if struck.

"Come on, Carrots, don't scare the poor little criminals. They've had a rough evening."

Judy continued to glare for a long moment before slowly turning away from them and pulling out of the parking lot to head back to the station. The streets were beginning to quiet, the late hour and sweltering combining to drive most back to their air-conditioned homes.

The silence of the car was broken by hum of the engine and the blast of the AC.

"Do you ever think I might be some sort of god?" Nick wondered as he stared out the side window.

A groan shuddered over from Judy's side of the car.

"No, quiet, listen to me. Maybe not a _god_ but I'm definitely supernaturally blessed." He turned to face her. "I was an amazing confidence fox, right? One of the best. _The_ best. You have to admit you were completely taken in the first time we met." He nodded encouragingly.

Judy continued to stare at the dark road ahead of them, not even bothering to acknowledge him.

"And I thought that I was just really good at it. Natural talent or something. But is anyone _this good?_ " Nick continued. "I mean, here we are, not one week after me starting and we have idiots throwing themselves at us to get arrested. No one has that kind of magnetic personality; clearly I have some sort of magical charisma that draws them to me."

A smile tugged at the corner of Judy's mouth, her nose twitching in amusement.

"It's a good thing you convinced me to use my powers for good. Who knows what diabolical things I could accomplish otherwise?" He held out his paw beatifically. "I won't forget your place in helping me, oh faithful bunny, you shall be my first disciple. Or should that be 'thou shalt be mine first disciple'?"

"Oh hush!" Judy threw him an amused look. "The only amazing thing about you is how you haven't been crushed by the weight of that enormous ego."

She spun the wheel as they turned onto the street leading to Savannah Central and the police headquarters. "It's all this election fever; the city's packed with all these supporters and where there are crowds you'll get criminals. It'll probably all die down in a few weeks, but we'll be busy until then. I foresee a lot pickpockets in our future."

The campaigns had been simmering for the last few months but had intensified in recent weeks as the election day got closer and closer. Every candidate was holding multiple rallies per day and every cop was run ragged. Keeping order at the events and preventing clashes between supporters was hard enough and but it seemed that every visitor from the boroughs had never heard of the concept of crime. Muggings alone had tripled in the last week as it seemed that every visitor had suddenly decided that a thorough nighttime exploration of every alleyway in Zootopia was suddenly the best idea they'd ever had.

Nick shrugged, "Oh well, we've already made a name for ourselves with the Nighthowlers, I guess we can coast on picking up petty criminals for a while." He suddenly jumped forward, startled as something crashed against the steel mesh cage between them and the back of the cruiser.

"Uh, actually, Officer Hopps. Miss Judy." The mule, Geoffrey he had said his name was, had slammed his head against the cage as he grinned down at her, a manic light in his eyes. "Judy, if I may…"

The bunny gritted her teeth and spat through them. "You may not."

"Aha, of course… well, Officer Hopps, I _really_ don't want to contradict you but it's not just myself and my boys that decided to descend upon Zootopia, you know? A couple of big names are making their way to the city."

Nick barked a laugh, "Oh, is there some other circus that's on its way? At least we'll have some entertainment over the next few weeks."

Geoffrey glared down at the fox, clearly biting back a few remarks, "Despite our… 'poor luck' this evening, we are a rather accomplished group I'll have you know. I'm not sure who made the first move on your city or why they came, but we didn't want them to get too much of a headstart, so… along we came."

Judy's ears had perked up and turned to the mule, her eyes still focused on the road. "Oh, and who exactly _is_ coming?"

The smile immediately returned to Geoffrey's face. "Oh, plenty! Let's see… Top Shelf Henry should be here already. Oh, and I heard Anubis Brothers were interested! Ahmm… I think Jagged Annie should be on her way…"

"Top Shelf Henry? What kind of name is that?" asked Nick.

"Gerbil burglar. Has a whole set of custom climbing gear, the fellow can get anywhere."

"The Blind Jacksons," chimed the ibex in the back seat.

"Leopold and the Spots, too," added the stoat.

"Okay, no, enough. _Leopold and the Spots?"_ Nick choked out, "You can't be serious. What's with all these goofy names?"

Geoffrey frowned at the fox, obviously annoyed, "Listen, fox, you're obviously new to this world. People in our business have to have a little character. A little class. It's what sets us apart from the common criminals. Come back to me when you have a little more experience."

Nick stared at him in disbelief, his jaw dropped, at a loss for words. He was being talked down to by someone who had just tried to rob a cop bar? He turned to Judy for support only to find her with a death-grip on the wheel, her shoulders shaking as she bit her lower lip, desperately trying not to burst into laughter.

"Judy…" he frowned, cautioning her not to-

"Bwahahahaha! Oh yes! Only a really _petty_ crook wouldn't have an alias." They pulled up to a red light and she took the moment to hit Nick with a wide cheeky grin. "Someone with _zero_ class," she continued teasingly. He opened his mouth to protest back but stopped himself; he'd had enough fun at her expense earlier, fair was fair.

He threw himself back into the seat, folding his arms and staring out the window in a sulk. Fair was fair, but he didn't have to like it.

Geoffrey seemed a little puzzled at the exchange but was encouraged by Judy's lightening mood.

"So, Miss Judy, you'll see there's plenty of opportunity out there to scoop up some well-deserved accolades. There's no need for _you_ to bother with petty pickpockets."

Judy pursed her lips and glanced at the mule with half-lidded eyes before turning back to her driving. "And why are you telling us all this 'Geoffrey the Gent'? Most people wait until they're in front of a judge before they start trying to work out a deal."

Geoffrey suddenly lowered his head, looking a little bashful as he twiddled his hoofs. "Oh, does a mammal really need a reason want to help out such an admirable lady?"

Everyone in the car froze as Geoffrey let out a simpering giggle. Judy kept her eyes locked on the road but every other pair of eyes was drawn inexorably to stare at the blushing mule with the cheerful grin. The stoat and the ibex had their mouths hanging open in disbelief, and Nick could only imagine his own expression was a mirror image. Even the bison, who Nick had thought was some sort of catatonic, seemed stunned by this… this… whatever this was.

Nick turned back to look at the frozen rabbit.

"Ju-"

"Ssh!"

"Bu-"

"Nobody speaks. Not a word. From anyone. We're almost at the station. And this part of the conversation is not going into any reports. Because it never happened." Every sentence was terse but bright, delivered in a lilting tone that somehow brooked no argument. You could try to talk with her, but she would definitely not be a _happy bunny_.

A silence filled the car as everyone tried to avoid looking at anyone else. Except Geoffrey, who didn't seem disheartened by Judy's reaction at all and managed to get away with humming happily to himself as he stared at the back of Judy's head through the cage.

* * *

Hours later Judy and Nick were back in the cruiser and leaving the station. Geoffrey's claim they were master criminals seemed a little more plausible, as they all seemed completely unfamiliar with the booking procedure. Well, maybe not _master_ criminals but they'd certainly avoided arrest before now. The already tedious task was lengthened by the stubborn Geoffrey who refused to cooperate with anyone but Judy, despite numerous threats of obstruction charges. As they were led away to the cells the departing Geoffrey had yelled a fond goodbye to Judy, drawing odd looks from the few officers scattered around the lobby.

By the time the pair had gotten back to their cruiser the streets had emptied as late night turned to early morning. They drove in silence for a few minutes before pulling over to the side of the road.

"Well…" Nick rubbed at the back of his head. "That was… interesting."

Judy lightly slammed her forehead against the steering wheel, punctuating her words with little thuds.

"Why. Do I. Attract. All. These. Weirdoes?"

Nick leaned over and placed his paw on her shoulder. "Okay Fluff, relax, I don't need a concussed bunny driving me about." He flashed her his trademark smirk. "And not everyone is strange, at least you have me."

She looked him up and down for a moment, shut her eyes and went back to thudding her head against the steering wheel.

"Do you think he was serious?" she asked, her head throbbing more from the events of the night than her headbutts.

Nick raised an eyebrow, "Carrots, I think you can do a _little_ better than that idiot."

"Not that! About all these… gangs and professionals coming to the city?"

"Oh, right." He shrugged, "Could be, but after seeing those guys I can't really say I'm worried. Anyway, Mr Big has a pretty strong grip on Tundratown and he's always watching out for anyone making a move on the other districts, it won't be easy for them to muscle in without his approval."

She thought back on the intimidating little arctic mouse she'd met so soon after coming to the city. She still met with Fru Fru regularly but she'd made a conscious decision not to involve herself any further with her father, worried where such a relationship might lead.

"You're probably right, but tensions in the city are already so high. The last thing we need is a bunch more idiots looking to make a name for themselves." Between the elections, the heat and crime, it felt like the melting pot that was Zootopia was ready to boil over any minute.

A comfortable silence descended between them. Judy studied her partner as he drummed a steady tattoo his armrest; he really had reveled in his lies the first time she had met him. It hadn't just been about the money, had it? It was what he could get away with, too. The question would eat away with her and she just had to ask, " _Did_ you ever have a nickname?"

Nick immediately stopped drumming, his head turning slightly to avoid her piercing gaze. His jaw was clenched tightly as a slight blush came to his face. He stared out at the darkness beyond the window, pretending not to have heard the question.

Her face lit with excitement as she leapt to her feet and shook his shoulder with both paws, "You did? Oh, come on Nick! What was it? You have to tell me; I promise I won't laugh." This seemed unlikely as her eyes were already alive with laughter, eager to have this embarrassing part of her partner's past.

The radio suddenly squawked to life "Car 93, car 93, respond,' came the voice of Clawhauser.

Nick snatched the handset, grateful for the reprieve. "This is 93, we read you, what's happening Claws?"

Clawhauser's voice was missing that joyful bounce that so well matched the leopard's personality, "Another 10-55 for you two; the Sahara Square Fountain Plaza. A security guard called it in. Forensics are already on the way. Could be a jumper."

"Got it, we're on our way." He placed the handset back on its latch as Judy pulled the cruiser out onto the empty street.

"This conversation isn't over," she warned her friend with an overly sweet smile.


	2. Chapter 2

10-55. A coroner case. These weren't fun. Unfortunately, she'd seen quite a few of them in the last few months. In a city as big as Zootopia cases like these turned up daily; either accident, foul play or by their own hand, mammals in the city died and every rookie on the force was quickly and intimately acquainted with mortality.

Her first scene had been messy, but she'd managed to hold down her carrots. Barely. Her first few 55s had gifted her some sleepless nights, but what she found much more unsettling was that they started to become just another part of the job. Important, just like all the cases she took on, but she felt she somehow owed it to these bodies to care more about their cases, and when she couldn't the guilt ate away at her.

Instead of not stressing about the serious cases, she'd begun to treat every case like a matter of life and death. Every B&E carved itself on her soul, every case of vandalism had her pouring over documents until late at night.

She'd confessed to Francine and Fangmeyer her concerns on a night out at the bar after spending the afternoon securing the scene of an elderly armadillo who had had been discovered alone in his apartment after neighbors began to complain about a smell.

The tiger and elephant had just exchanged a laugh.

"I'm just glad you see it as a problem, Hopps," said Fangmeyer, "It's still early, but you're _probably_ a good cop; the problem most of you crusader types have is you never learn to switch off."

"You can't take everything personally, Judy," agreed Francine. "We're not saying don't care, just don't forget to care about yourself too; or you'll just end up burning out in a few months."

Snarlof had poked his head over the booth behind them, "That's a load of bull," his head darting around warily for any sight of the chief after realizing what he'd said. "Either all crimes are important, or none are."

"And when did I say they weren't important?" protested Francine.

"Sounded to me like you said we shouldn't care about anything!"

"I didn't say anything like that! What's the matter with you Snarlof? Going deaf or something?"

As the two devolved into a slightly drunken row about the finer points of jurisprudence (the only sane way to actually argue about jurisprudence is when you're at least two drinks deep), Fangmeyer had leaned over to Judy, "All we're really saying is, Hopps, don't let the job be everything. You can take off the uniform and go off-duty, but you never really stop being a cop, not if you're good; it gets in your bones. Look at Bogo, he's been doing the job so long you could dress him up as a ballerina and no-one would see him as anything but a mean-ass, sunuvabitch cop; they'll have to pry him out of that office with a crowbar when the time comes, he'll never want to leave."

The tiger downed his drink **,** "So take the chance to blow off steam when you can. Get a hobby, get a boyfriend; hell, come here and pick a fight, that works for most of us in a pinch. Just find something to focus on and don't let the job get to you." The tiger turned back to Francine and Snarlof and launched in with a third side, bringing a new level of intensity to the argument.

Judy had joined the quarrel with her still mostly optimistic view of the world and the group had continued their argument into the early hours of the morning. As others drifted in and out of the conversation she had learned that no two officers in the precinct had the exact same approach to the job. For some it was a calling, for some a job. Others liked the prestige and some were just following the footsteps of parents or grandparents. But most were a mix of all these and a hundred other reasons.

Though she awoke the next day with one of the more aggressive hangovers she'd ever had she found herself feeling surprisingly good. Her doubts hadn't really been answered, not in any deep or meaningful way; the water was still up to her neck but she was treading now, not drowning. That would do for the moment.

 _Something to focus on._

 _Nick._

Nick was doing well at the academy, by all reports. But it would still be difficult for him when he joined the force. Even if his fellow officers accepted him, it would take the public a while to get used to the idea of a fox cop, just as it had taken time for them to get used to a bunny cop. She had every confidence in him, but that didn't mean he had to go it alone.

Helping her friend would be a good project to focus on, right?

She'd prepare.

She'd be ready to help him as he had helped her.

She's make sure that the first fox cop and the first bunny cop would be the best duo in the history of the ZPD.

But she could start preparing tomorrow, pulling her pillow over her head and succumbing to her hangover.

* * *

They pulled into Fountain Plaza; a popular place during the day, the numerous fountains providing a sense of relief from the ever-present sweltering heat of the Sahara district. A mismatched style of structures towered over the plaza, the world-famous steel and glass modernity of the Highberg Tower on one side to the classically impressive art deco stylings of the Proud Building on the other; walking between the two, one would see an example of every style architectural style known to mammal.

Throughout the plaza were a scattering of fountains in varying style and sizes, no two the same. At first glance it looked like a chaotic mess, and it was, but if you spent even a little time there you would quickly realize that while each out-of-place fountain may not have matched another, it _would_ match one of the numerous buildings lining the square. It was a planned project of enormous scope that had been started over a century ago by the industrialist Isiah Proud. A fantatic believer in the ideals of the city, Proud had wanted to establish an iconic area that reflected the cosmopolitan nature of Zootopia in miniature; his wish was to be able to take once glance across the plaza and able to see a dozen different cultures living together. Each distinct but complimenting one another.

His wish had been carried on to this day and it was notoriously difficult to gain approval from the board of trustees for any changes to the buildings; new structures were even rarer. The plaza had slowly taken shape as the decades passed and was now one of the highlights of the district. The rent in any of the buildings was astronomical, and even if you could afford to pay there was little chance of securing a space; tenants rarely gave up the prestige of having offices in the plaza.

It was mostly empty at this hour. Judy thanked her stars the unlucky mammal had chosen the late hour and immediately cursed herself for her thoughtlessness. But it would make their job a lot easier without having to contend with a throng of morbidly curious tourists and office workers. Outside the Proud Building was the Treble Fountian; a fountain within a fountain within a fountain, 200 foot across the base, it was named for Proud's daughters and dominated the rest of the fountains throughout the square. It had been made famous by countless movies as backdrop for romantic reunions and thrilling showdowns; tonight it served a familiar but all too real purpose, the scene of a death.

Standing at the edge of the fountain, close to the building's lobby, were two figures.

Judy parked the cruiser and she and Nick hopped out, the padding of their footsteps drowned out by the constant gurgling of water as they wound their way through the maze of fountains. Numerous eyes followed them as the night guards of the buildings stood silently in their doorways, curious as to what had drawn the attention of the ZPD but reluctant to leave their posts.

As they drew closer, Judy recognized the two figures, a mature dark-haired boar coroner called Jones and, oh god, the insufferable little ermine CSI Michaels **.**

She gripped Nick's forearm and spoke rapidly out of the side of her mouth. "Whatever you do, do _not_ call Michaels a stoat, he's an ermine. I'm really not kidding about this Nick." A smile plastered itself across her face as she held up a paw in greeting, "Jones! Michaels! You got here fast."

Jones nodded back, his gruff voice friendly, "You know us, Hopps, always ready to leap into action."

The white ermine shot a glare at Judy, saying nothing as he turned back to examine thing that had brought them here. The limp body draped bonelessly over the lip of the fountain.

It- _He_ was a wolf, golden brown fur and well-groomed, wearing a dark navy waistcoat embroidered slightly with a purple floral design. His suit trousers looked well-tailored, matching the dark navy of his waistcoat. His shirt looked expensive, silk probably, and had the top buttons undone. He had landed right on the on the edge of the fountain; his legs floating in the pool of water as his head hung limply over the concrete, staring at them with a wide eyes of shocked disbelief.

 _He looks scared._

"You'd be surprised how many immediately regret trying it," said Jones, answering the statement she hadn't even realized she'd vocalized. "The pillpoppers and the cutters can get lucky and are sometimes found in time. Jumpers… well, at least they don't regret it for long."

His eyes flicked questioningly to Nick.

Judy blinked and broke her stare from the wolf, an eager grin spreading on her face, "Oh, you haven't met! This is-"

"Nick Wilde, pleasure to meet you," the fox interrupted before she could begin her litany of reasons on why the boar should be impressed with her partner, holding out his paw to Jones. She shot him a frown but he patently ignored it and went through the pleasantries with Jones; he had done that a few times now, interrupted her just as she had prepared to launch into her carefully prepared speech on his many good points. Well, his few goods points and the bad points that could be good points if you twisted them in just the right way.

She had to admit he was doing a good job at fitting in, which irked her a little even as it made her proud. It hadn't been so easy for her when she first joined and she had determined to make it as easy as she could for her new friend; him fitting in so easily made her fell somewhat redundant. She had been talking him up to her colleagues for weeks, casually dropping him into conversation whenever she thought it was appropriate.

(It should be noted that, in certain ways, Judy Hopps had all the subtlety of a shovel. Her idea of casually bringing up the topic of her impending partner was mentioning to Higgins how Nick's fur was the same color as the orange he was eating. Or retelling his jokes to Clawhauser in a way that not only removed any trace of humor out of them and actually made the leopard a little depressed. The only thing that bemused her colleagues more than this was how startling unaware she was of her bizarre behavior.)

She had worried that off-the-cuff compliments would lead her to another unintended disaster like the press conference and had spent the week prior to Nick's first day practicing in front of the mirror what she would say.

She wasn't being insane, she was being prepared. No matter what her neighbors Bucky and Pronk said.

 _Are you really annoyed at your friend being_ too _likeable? What's next? Annoyed that you work so well together?_

"Well nice to have you with us, Wilde," said Jones as he turned back to Judy. "The chief has us stretched thin as usual, looks like it's just going to be us for this evening."

"So, what have we got?" asked Judy, turning her attention back to the body.

"It's a stiff, rabbit, open your eyes," snapped Michaels without even bothering to look at her.

"We just got here ahead of you, Judy," added Jones, cutting off his surly partner. "The guard who called it in is over there." He pointed over to the doorway of the Proud lobby, a short goat was somehow managing to huddle there all alone, he looked like he was trying to hide behind himself. He nodded down at Michaels who had opened a little case and was beginning to take out the numerous little tools of his craft. "From a quick glance I'd say all the trauma was done by the fall, not an attack."

"That your personal opinion, or professional?" asked Nick.

The boar shrugged, "A bit of both. You see enough folks pancaked and you get to recognize those that jump without a struggle." He chuckled at Nick as he saw the fox grimace at the coroner's casual use one of Nick's favorite breakfast items to describe the boneless shape at their feet. "This your first 55, Wilde? Just be glad it was a wolf; elephants are the worst, if they go from just the right height they have the tendency to sort of burst when they hit-"

"Ahherg."

Nick let out a cry somewhere between a laugh and a gurgle, his face stiffening as Jones began to launch into his favorite topic of conversation with rookies; Judy bit back a smile as her eyes were drawn to her partner by an audible gurgle of his stomach. She hadn't seen that expression since she'd threatened him with the tax evasion charges.

The fox took a few hasty steps back, " _Fascinating_ as this is, I'd better go see what our witness has to say, wouldn't want him feeling he isn't getting his due attention. So nice to have met you." He hurried away quickly, his feet practically dragging the rest of his body in his eagerness to get away from the boar's lurid descriptions.

Jones chuckled as he watched the quickly departing Nick and Judy gave him a mock glare and rapped his belly lightly with the back of her paw. The coroner switched his gaze to Judy, still grinning. "Not gruesome enough for you, Hopps?"

"You forget that the elephant _was_ my first jumper. I'm not a fan of these scenes, but it'll take a lot more than this poor guy to get to me," she grinned back.

"I am surprised you didn't jump down my throat over that though."

Her brow furrowed, puzzled, "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, just a rumor I heard about some rabbit going around the precinct scaring all the big preds and preys into playing nice with Mr Wilde."

"They're saying _what?"_ Her voice coming out a lot more strangled then she had intended.

"How did Wolford describe it, Archie?" asked Jones as he nudged his partner who just continued his methodical examination of the body, "'Adorable', I think it was. It was kind of hard to hear him over how much he was laughing."

"He said _what?!"_ Her voice rising in anger now.

Jones chuckled and slapped her back making her stagger forward, infinitely more dazed by what he said than what he had done. "Lighten up, Hopps; at least you have a partner you like, not all of us can say that."

This earned a scowl from Michaels, but there was no real heat in the gaze; the ermine saved that for people he really didn't like (i.e. the rest of the world).

Judy still seemed dazed, more from the boar's words than his bone-shaking slap. "Look, I haven't been _scaring_ anyone, I'm just… People should know he's… he's a really great guy. I mean, a great _partner_. A cop. He's… he's a great… cop." She had no idea why she suddenly seemed to sound like a babbling idiot, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. She cursed silently Bucky and Pronks, she knew she hadn't spent enough time practicing.

Jones stared down at her, his eyebrow raised at tongue-tied defense. Michaels had halted his examination and was peering around his bulky friend at her; he had the usual look of disdain her always gifted her with, but be felt she had earned it this time.

"I'm… sure he is, Hopps,' Jones said, just to fill the strange silence that descended.

"Well, I'd better-"

She forcibly stopped herself from saying anything more, having no clue what might spill out next, pointed in the direction Nick had gone and hurried after him.

Michaels looked up at his large and only friend, "And what did Wolford do to you?"

The grin splitting Jones' face was so wide it threatened to remove the top of his skull, "Whatever do you mean, Archie? Why would I be mad at my old friend Wolford who certainly wasn't the idiot who let it slip to Mrs Jones how much money I lost at last week's game."

The ermine snorted a single laugh and got back to work.

Judy hurried a few feet away, powered by her anger at Wolford and herself before bottling it up. No sense wasting it now when later she could make that stupid wolf pay for his poor decisions.

(Wolford would later suffer random attacks as some unknown villain would sprinkle his lunch with a variety of salty, spicy or unpalatably sweet garnishes. By the time it died down a month later the wolf was a paranoid starving wreck.)

She immediately regretted this decision as her annoyance was the only thing holding back the wave of embarrassment that now washed over her, her face heating and the inside of her ears turning a beet red.

Perhaps she _had_ been a little too gushing in her praise of Nick; her overenthusiasm had caused problems for her before. She had just wanted to make sure he was treated like everyone else.

But she didn't want everyone to go around thinking that Nick was… that he need to be treated special or something. Maybe she should go around to everyone and tell them _not_ to treat Nick nicely.

' _Hey Rhinowitz, mind trashing Nick's locker? Maybe spray paint some racial slurs on it?"_

 _"Francine! Good to see you! Have you met Nick? He's a fox and therefore untrustworthy, I joked he should become a cop and he took me seriously, come on, help me bully him!"_

 _Bucky and Pronk were right. You have officially gone full on crazy bunny. What are you thinking?_

 _Just act natural. Everything is normal right? Yes! Why wouldn't it be? She was normal, and Nick was normal and all the rest of the cops in the precinct were normal and joking and everyone would just treat everyone else normally. Hahahahaha!_

 _Okay, seriously, that laugh bordered on the maniacal. Calm down._

 _And stop talking to yourself._

In the few seconds it took for this train of thoughts to thunder through her head she had pulled up next to Nick; he had just finished taking down the personal details of the security guard, sparing her a quick glance as she arrived.

"Mr Franklin this is Officer Hopps, Carrots, this is Mr Franklin, he handles the night shift around here."

Judy nodded her head normally and gave the goat a normal smile.

 _So far, so good._

The goat was of average height, average frame, average weight, dressed in the olive green uniform of Anipen Security, who handled a lot of private security for the city. A fussy pair of glasses balanced precariously on the edge of his nose; while he wasn't exactly elderly, the weight of years was heavy on him.

"So, do you recognize the body? Was he an employee here?"

Judy grinned and gave her partner a thumbs up. _What a normal question!_

Nick gave her back a puzzled glance before turning back to the goat. His pencil in hand and ready to take note of what the witness had to say.

Judy stared at her hand, the thumb still standing and mocking her.

 _Crackers! What the heck am I doing?_ She shook her head to clear her thoughts. _It's been a long night, you're tired. Focus on the case; you can't act like an idiot in front of the rookie, right? Right._

She nodded to herself, relieved as she felt the gears of professionalism beginning to shunt into place, dispelling her mild panic and finally pulling her back into a normal state of mind.

* * *

 _What the hell is she doing?_

Nick tried to ignore his partner's manic grin, enthusiastic nodding and random twitching.

Was it something to do with the wolf? Probably not. He knew she had already begun to desensitize to some of the harder parts of the job; she'd proven that by providing some pretty gruesome accounts of her exploits whenever they'd met up while he was in the academy. Usually when they were half way through a meal, much to her amusement and his disappearing appetite

His attention was drawn back to the goat as he replied, "Oh yes, poor Mr Ishkar. He works up on the 43rd floor. Such a nice fellow, it really is a shame." He tutted, shaking his head sadly.

"You knew him well then?" asked Judy.

"Oh, everyone knows Mr Ishkar." The goat sighed, "Or _knew_ him, I suppose. Or maybe we didn't, he always seemed like such an upbeat person, I never thought he'd…" The goat trailed off as his eyes were drawn over to the fountain before quickly darting away.

"He was always happy to stop for a quick chat, not like some of those other sorts. Poor Ishkar."

"Other sorts?"

"Oh, you know the type, the ones who have worked here for ten years and still don't even know your surname. Within a month, Mr Ishkar knew all of the maintenance staff and could probably tell you the names of our kids and grandkids."

Nick exchanged a glance with Judy, "So, not someone who was likely to have many enemies?"

The goat looked shocked, "Mr Ishkar? Heavens no! Just one of those fellows you can't help but like."

"I know the type," noted Nick, ignoring the withering look Judy sent his way, a smirk tugging at the side of his mouth. "What was he doing in the building so late?"

Franklin shrugged, "I really couldn't say; I didn't even know he was in the building. There are some back entrances you can get in with a keycard, but he never signed in."

"And you saw no signs of a struggle?"

The goat looked puzzled for a moment, "I'm sorry?"

"In the office. No scattered papers, upturned furniture, anything out of place?"

The goat blinked. "Oh, _I_ haven't been up there. Some of the tenants restrict access to their offices. Confidential stuff, I expect."

Nick stared over at Judy who looked back at him with the exact same expression of growing dread.

"But there was no-one else up there with him, right?" asked Judy, an undertone of worry in her voice, just ready to break through. "You _did_ check the security cameras, right?"

"Well, no, I don't have access to their system. A lot of them have their own closed loop set up for that sort of thing."

Judy was already through the doors and racing towards the elevator before Franklin was halfway through the sentence. Nick whirled to look at Jones, the boar had been half listening as he went about his work and was now staring right back at Nick, his eyes wide in panic. "We- we didn't check yet! They told us it was a suicide on the radio!"

Nick cursed under his breath and raced into the lobby after Judy, she was standing at the elevator hammering on the call button over and over.

"They turn all the elevators off when we close. The whole building goes into energy-saving mode. If you give me a few minutes-" The goat had scurried in after them and was making his way towards the reception desk.

Nick ignored him and had already reached the base of the stairs and began bounding up them, taking them two at a time. Judy was moments behind him, racing up the stairs as quickly as he could cover flat ground and overtaking him.

They ran in silence, but for the thudding of their paws on the steps and their steady panting for breath.

By the time he hit the 7th floor Nick was thanking his drill instructor at the academy for every early morning run and late night workout session they'd been forced to do.

By the time he hit the 18th floor he was cursing his drill instructor at the academy for going so easy on him.

By the time he hit the 24th floor he was fighting through the most painful cramp he'd ever experienced in his entire life. No one since the dawn of history had felt anything as intensely as he what he was feeling right at this moment.

By the time he hit the 31th floor the cramp didn't matter because he was pretty sure his lungs had just collapsed.

By the time he hit the 36th floor nothing mattered. He was in a fugue state, the only thing driving him on was the sight of Judy speeding up the stairs ahead of him. _Follow Judy, follow Judy, follow Ju-_

He crashed into the back of her as she suddenly stopped, sending them both staggering. Dazed, he looked around, his mind fizzling back to life as he realized they'd arrived. The dark hallway ahead of them was illuminated only by the dim light of the emergency exit sign above them. A door halfway down the corridor was outlined by the light of the room beyond, seeping through the cracks. The searing pain in his lungs and side returned with interest as he struggled to quiet the desperate gulps for air.

Judy motioned him to quiet but seemed to be having as much difficulty as he was. Still, she managed to hustle him over to the door, stood on the other side of it and motioned him to follow her lead as she unholstered her taser, resting her paw on the doorhandle. He swallowed heavily and pulled out his own taser and nodded to her. She turned the door handle and pushed it open before stepping back behind the cover of the wall.

They peered into an empty reception area; a reception desk stood at one side of the room facing a variety of chairs on the other side, ones suitable for mammals of every size. Despite the minimalist nature of the room, the furniture and decoration was expensive and elegant.

They moved with silent agreement into the room, repositioning themselves on either side of the door leading deeper into the office. Again, Judy cautiously threw the door open.

"ZPD! Anyone in the there? Make your presence known." She bit out each few words between deep breathes of air, just managing to be loud enough for her voice to echo into the office. Silence answered them.

She jerked her head and darted into the room, taking cover behind a heavy mahogany desk as he took the chance to scan the room. It was a large, open office; a few dozen desks were arranged in three rows, each desk paired with and facing another. Doors on either side of the room led off to private offices.

The room was dark, a desk lamp towards the back of the office providing a pool of light that cast shadows and dimly outlined the landscape of the office. Close to the illuminated desk was a large, open window.

No-one.

After another moment they both moved forward into the room and stalked in sync between the rows of desks. Their eyes flitted around for any movement at all, the only sound their own heavy breathing and the whistling of the wind through the window.

"Clear," breathed Judy as they checked each of the adjoining offices and found each empty.

Nick groaned, feeling his body shudder as the tension holding him up exploded out of him, the adrenaline fueling him sputtering out and making his brain go numb. He half staggered, half fell at the chair closest to him, it was most attractive piece of furniture he'd ever seen in his life. He'd never leave this chair. He was going to marry this chair. They'd raise a litter of cute little footstools and he would be the happiest fox that had ever sat down. He whimpered as some grey bunny got in his way and pushed him away from his soul mate.

"Out, we need our gear. Can't contaminate the scene any more. In enough trouble already."

They stumbled out of the office, each holding the other up before collapsing against the wall outside the office, sliding down to sit side by side in an exhausted heap.

"Really thought we'd catch a cackling maniac crowing about his perfect murder," murmured Judy.

Nick nodded, "Anti-climactic. But if you want excitement, I'm pretty sure my heart exploded on the way up here, I'll be dropping dead any second. Planning my funeral should be fun. Dress code: Tropical shirts."

Judy let out a weak laugh. He looked down at her; her eyes were half-closed with her head resting against his shoulder, her chest rising and falling deeply but slowing as she regained her breath.

A pang of guilt joined his many pangs of agony as he recalled how he'd interrupted her introduction to Jones earlier. He knew she was just trying to help him out, and he was sure that his acceptance into the ranks had been helped by her high opinion of him. They may not care about Nick Wilde, but she did; and it was clear her opinion had a lot of weight in the precinct, even if she still seemed to be the butt of plenty of jokes for being the first bunny cop.

It wasn't that he was unused to flattery, but he usually kept so many layers between himself and others that it never felt like they were complimenting _him,_ just another part of his carefully crafted persona.

Judy, on the other hand, was so earnest in her praise that he found himself feeling self-conscious for the first time since his childhood. He had been stunned when she had asked him to be partner, and despite the somewhat bumpy road they had taken since then he was happy that he had worked out so far.

They had spent a lot of time together in the intervening months, despite his heavy academy workload, and he was surprised at how close he felt to this rabbit that he still barely knew; but it wasn't until he heard how she described him to her fellow officers that he really began to understand the esteem she held him in. She didn't think he could just be a good cop, but a _good person_.

It made him determined to live up to her expectations and terrified that he couldn't.

 _Don't waste this chance, you idiot. The rabbit's doing everything she can, even if she is a little crazy the least you can do is meet her half-way._

 _Maybe ask her to tone back the praise a bit though; I don't want to be the first fox to spontaneously combust from embarrassment._

They sat in with each other in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, broken by a ding from the elevator.

"Judy! Wilde!"

They looked up to see Jones barreling down the corridor towards them, a look of panic on his face as he saw them propped against the wall, his hand going for his radio. Nick waved at him reassuringly.

"We're fine, we're fine, the room is clear but the stairs almost did us in."

Jones slowed to a trot as he got closer, sighing in relief, as Nick and Judy pulled themselves to their feet. He stopped in front of them, panting just from the short run down the corridor. "Judy, I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"It's not your fault, Arthur, we heard the same report from Ben. It's just as much my mistake, I should have checked with the guard sooner."

"I'm sure Bogo will have a big enough shovel to spread the blame around to all of us," added Nick, earning a relieved laugh from Jones.

"Could you grab the kit from our cruiser, Arthur? Nick and I had better get started in here before anything else manages to go wrong tonight." Judy had moved to the doorway of the office and was peering in.

"Not a problem, you guys catch your breath," Jones lumbered back down towards the elevator as Nick joined Judy in the doorway. "Archie should be done with his once over on the body, I'll send him up with it." Jones laughed as he saw Judy wince at hearing this.

"You really don't get along with the stoat? _Sorry, sorry,_ the _ermine._ I thought you got along with everyone." asked Nick.

"Not everyone, and especially not Michaels. I mean, he doesn't like anyone except Jones, but he _really_ doesn't like me. I don't even know what it was I did," she sighed, "but it doesn't matter. He may be an insufferable little jerk, but he's the best CSI in the precinct. I don't think anyone could put up with him if he wasn't."

Nick found himself surprised by the revelation, he knew Bogo had been hard on her when she'd fist arrived; hell, he'd seen first-hand just how poorly she'd been treated. But he had assumed that after the Nighthowler case that she'd more than earned the respect of everyone in the precinct. The worst he'd seen her receive was good natured teasing to which she seemed mostly blessedly oblivious, but not outright hostility.

Then again, some of his predator friends from his last 'career' weren't as forgiving to Judy as he had been. She had caught Bellwether and uncovered the plot, but some still saw her as the person who had condemned them publicly as potential savages just waiting to be unleashed. If he was entirely honest with himself, he wasn't sure how he had managed to forgive her so easily himself, he knew how to nurse a grudge. It just seemed to be an unarguable fact. Fire was hot, water was wet, Judy was sorry and Nick forgave her.

His well-honed ability to read people told him within minutes of leaving the conference that she had regretted what she had done almost immediately, though he was too angry to forgive her right then.

He tried to forget his unasked for adventure and the bunny who had dragged him into it; in the weeks after he went back to his usual routine but it felt like he was on autopilot, simply going through the motions after the few days of thrilling excitement with Judy. The city may have been in turmoil, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary as to how he and Finnick were usually treated.

But when she had poked her head over the bridge, his first thought wasn't about how angry he had been at her, or even the realization that he'd already forgiven her. One thing had jumped to the front of his mind before anything else.

 _Oh, it's Judy! I've missed her._

Of course, he'd immediately tamped this feeling down. Because _Nicke Wilde_ wouldn't be Nick Wilde if he didn't act like _Nick Wilde_ , even in a situation like forgiving a friend.

But he was glad she had come back for him.

"He's probably just jealous you've got the best partner that's ever joined the ZPD. It's the only thing I envy about you," his grin creeping back onto his face.

"The _only_ thing?"

"Hey, you get to spend all day with a handsome, charming, intelligent guy. My partner may be great at her job, but her personality…"

She elbowed him in the stomach, causing his earlier meal to grumble in protest and threaten to march back up his throat to see what was going on.

"It's a good thing the there's only one of you; the levels of snark that would pass between you and a double would be enough to drive the city insane."

Nick wheezed, his arm pressed against the wall, "I knew there was something else I liked about you, Carrots, you keep me grounded."

Judy walked down the hallway searching for the light switch. Light flooded the corridor and she re-entered the reception area, squinting into the dark room, "I didn't notice anything out of place, did you?"

Nick had calmed his protesting dinner and straightened; he shook his head, "Just the open window. Aren't those things usually locked this high up?"

"Well, legislation was brought in a few years ago to secure all windows above the tenth story with safety glass and locks. But building managers still have ways to open them if needed."

They soon heard the sound of Michaels shuffling down the steps towards them, loaded down with large crime scene investigation kit Jones had provided. He dropped it on the ground as he went by, not even bothering to look at either of them.

Nick raised an eyebrow, watching the CSI enter the office and begin photographing the scene, "Charming fellow."

"I've never seen him so polite; Jones must have had a word with him." She began to unpack the kit, handing Nick his white protective jumpsuit and paw covers before beginning to struggle into her own. Nick snorted a laugh as she bundled her ears under the snug attached hood.

"I don't know what you're laughing at, Red," she said, holding out what was essentially a white plastic sleeve. He groaned and began to pull it over his tail, fastening it around snugly around his waist.

"If this wasn't a crime scene before, it certainly is now. No-one should be forced to wear these things." He swished his tail to the sound of crinkling plastic. "After that climb and this humiliation, it feels like it'll be a waste if there isn't a murder. Does that make me a bad person for hoping it is one?"

"Yes," replied Judy.

"Yeah, I thought so," he flourished towards the door. "Ladies first."

* * *

Michaels had turned on the lights and was moving quickly and methodically around the room, photographing the entire room from every angle. He had already reached the far end of the room, cataloguing whatever his experience told him would be useful. He gave them a quick glance as he heard them enter; holding up his paw, he motioned them to wait as he continued his way down the last few desks.

A few moments later he motioned them over, flicking through the images he had taken on his camera, nodding in satisfaction with his work. His eyes darted up to Judy then over to the desk closest to the open window. "Looks pretty open and shut."

Judy followed his gaze, perched on the center of desk was an envelope, illuminated by the desk lamp. Judy sighed and picked it up, she never enjoyed reading these.

The envelope had an address; no name, no stamp, just a PO Box in the Main Zootopian Postal Headquarters. She flipped it over, it hadn't been sealed. She pulled out the paper inside and unfolded it, feeling Nick move behind her to examine it over her shoulder.

I'm sorry. I had to be true to myself.

I hope you can forgive me some day.

Be well.

Ishkar.

Judy handed the letter over to Michaels. She had read a few such letters since she had joined the force and often found them harder to face than the bodies. Seeing the pain of a mammal put down on paper etched itself in her memory; it wasn't anything dramatic, the words didn't write themselves in white-hot fire across her brain. She just found herself uncomfortably capable of remembering word-for-word every suicide note she had read.

The ermine scanned the letter and growled, he pulled out an evidence bag and placed the letter within. "I'll take the side rooms. You do the stiff's desk to there, rabbit. New guy, you take from that desk up to the entrance." He turned and entered the nearest office, not bothering to wait for a response, muttering to himself, "Inconsiderate prick. Like I don't have better things to do than waste my time on your stupid scene."

Nick leaned down to Judy and lowered his voice, "You think he was talking about you or the wolf?"

"Har har, just do what he said; the sooner we get done here, the better."

Nick sauntered away and began combing his area for anything strange. Judy returned to the desk. It was neat and mostly bare; a screen and keyboard, an empty letter tray and some pens. She pulled open the desk drawer, again finding it mostly neat and bare but for a small black day planner.

Opening the planner, she flicked forward to today's date. No appointments.

 _I suppose it would be too much to ask to have 'App. w/ Mr Killer RE: Getting thrown out a window, 3.30am.'_

She turned to the previous page and found it empty too. She flicked through the pages until she found the last entry. She frowned. The previous week had been full of appointments, it seemed that he barely had time to finish one before the next would start. The week before had been the same, and the week before and on and on.

A full schedule up until last week and then nothing since five days ago.

The last entry had been Saturday at 8pm. 'T T K.'

The other entries were a mix of shorthand and fully detailed appointments.

'Meet Amanda re Camp Org App'

'Funding Committee'

'B+H Inf'

'Madigan for support'

'Dc bkup'

Some of entries were just a collection of doodles; not in every entry, but in enough that they had clearly meant something to the wolf.

She sighed and snapped the book closed, bagging it. It made no sense to her but clearly it had been vital to Ishkar. But why had he stopped using it this week, it seemed like the wolf had been busier than even she was. Did he get new planner?

She opened the other drawers, finding them all bare. For such a busy person he left very little clutter around. No memos, no forms, no photographs or other personal effects. Not unheard of, but still worth noting, she supposed.

The navy suit jacket hung over the back of the desk chair matched the suit Ishkar had been wearing. She felt inside the suit pocket and pulled out a small pinewood box and a thin wallet. The box snapped open easily, inside were a number of business cards.

'Charles Ishkar, Executive Assistant'

The card included some contact phone numbers and in the lower right corner a small drawing of what appeared to be a wolf perched atop some sort of pedestal. The symbol was unfamiliar to her, maybe some sort of logo he used?

She opened the wallet and found there were a few dollar bills of various amounts and a handful of credit cards. There were also two transparent windows for photographs. One was empty but the other was a picture of Ishkar grinning madly at the camera, his arm wrapped around the waist of a massive feline; Judy didn't actually recognize the species, it had the tawny brown fur of a lion but with faint hints of black stripes atop his head and appearing to run down his back. The feline had an embarrassed grin and it looked like he had been dragged into the picture by Ishkar against his will.

She catalogued both the wallet and the card holder and bagged them.

"Oh… crap," sounded Nick's voice from the other end of the room. The tone of despair in his voice brought her head up to look at him.

"You find something?"

"Carrots, you know whose office this is?" Nick asked, staring down at a stack of papers in his hand.

Judy opened her paws, face up, allowing her overly dramatic partner to draw out the tension before holding up one of the sheets to face her.

She groaned.

It was instantly familiar to her, thousands of them had been plastered throughout the city in the last few months. A poster for Elizabeth Herd, wealthy socialite, philanthropist, and one of the three main candidates in the mayoral election.

"Politics, Fluff. Again." He eyed the open window with a look of desire dancing in his eyes "I think we'll be better off taking the same route Ishkar did; like Jones said, at least it's a quick way to go."


	3. Chapter 3

Nick sipped at his coffee, it may have tasted terrible but at least it was lukewarm; good, he'd just have been suspicious if anything seemed to be going right for him at the moment.

Michaels had impressed Nick when they told him who the office belonged to; the CSI had cursed for a solid minute straight, not once repeating himself the entire time. He'd even thrown in a few that were completely new to Nick. They'd left him to his annoyance and went to the hall to contact the station. Bogo had thankfully come in early and they managed to apprise him of the situation without having to call him at home and risk waking him. To say the bison was less than pleased would be an understatement and when the Chief was unhappy he made sure everyone knew it through the direct route of making sure _they_ were unhappy. Within half an hour two more CSIs had turned up at the offices; the anteater glared at Nick as if he was personally responsible for having her called in early (which he supposed he was) while the elk looked as if he was still asleep as he bumped his way down the hallway and into the offices.

The ermine had put them both to work and speed of the investigation increased exponentially. Nick and Judy had returned to the hallway, waiting for Michaels to finish his inspection of the offices.

They had stripped out of the protective gear and Franklin had fetched them the coffee from the staff canteen. Nick recognised all the hallmarks of any truly great communal coffee pot; never allowed to run dry and constantly topped up over days, weeks, months and even years. Considering the age of the building, he was almost sure that his coffee had come from a pot that had been first started before he was even born.

He'd watched in wary admiration as Judy had gulped the coffee down, hardly seeming to taste it at all. Clearly her need for caffeine had out-ruled any of the desperate protests her stomach had made not to let the foul substance inside. He fetched an empty bin just in case she realized what she had allowed into her body.

She had taken out her notebook and was flipping through the pages. She scratched a few words and was now reviewing them over and over in an endless rotation.

Flipping a page, examining.

Flipping a page, examining.

Every once in a while she'd place her pencil to paper and would pause, on the cusp of writing something else before shaking her head and returning to the constant flipping.

They had a body, they had clues, now they just had to make sense of what exactly had happened. Had Ishkar jumped or had something more sinister befallen the wolf? (He made a mental note to use the word 'befallen' for the next time they investigated a jumper. It never hurt your wit to be prepared and he was confident it would get just the right groan out of the bunny.)

He stared at his partner as she seemed to have some sort of looping internal battle with herself; it wasn't an entirely unfamiliar scene. Judy was currently bouncing around her head what they knew, jumbling them together and from every possible angle until they just seemed to fit together. Nick had seen it work for her before, like the time she had suddenly rushed out halfway through dinner, only to return a few hours later with a claiming the broccoli had helped connect the dots between an unlicensed tree surgeon and a string of unsolved burglaries. He still wasn't entirely sure she hadn't already worked it out and just acted that way to impress him with a supposed leap of logic.

Probably not, though, knowing Judy as he did.

While he admired the way Judy could examine clues over and over from every angle, the way she described it sounded like she was trying to put some sort of 3D jigsaw together, the only problem was you didn't know what you were supposed to be making, half the pieces were usually missing and you had people walking through the room constantly to destroy your work through malice or ignorance.

Nick had tried her way when he was at the academy and each time came up with spectacularly incorrect answers. He could put the jigsaw of clues together easily, but he had a lot more trouble figuring out what picture he was supposed to be making; he often found he was building a duck where he should be building a chainsaw.

Judy had been staring blankly at the wall for the last few moments; her pencil trembling in her hand, millimetres away from the paper, desperate to write something. Clearly she didn't have enough of the jigsaw pieces to make out the whole picture yet.

"Alright, Carrots, what is it that has you going round in circles?"

Judy blinked, her head snapping round as if she had just remembered her partner was there with her.

"Hm? Nick?" She glanced back down the hall to check they were alone, stepping closer and lowering her voice. "This doesn't feel right, _right_?"

Nick shrugged noncommittally. It didn't, but what annoyed him was that he couldn't place why. A suicide of a political staffer a sort time before the mayoral election? Unfortunate, but not impossible. But there was something else, something that had all his street honed instincts yelling at him.

 _Something was wrong! Run!_

He kept having to overrule the cry to flee a hustle gone wrong, trying to remind himself that it wasn't _his_ hustle; it was his job to find out whose it was.

"Could be."

"I mean, just look at the envelope." She flipped a few pages in her book, consulting her notes. "It was addressed, with the letter inside and ready to be sent but he just left it on his desk, unsealed? No postage? Why get it ready to go and then not send it? Wasn't it important?"

"Could be he wasn't thinking straight, a person who commits suicide isn't most likely to be in the most coherent state of mind," replied Nick, playing devil's advocate rather than having any strong belief one way or the other.

Judy brushed this aside, moving on to her next point, "His planner, for the past few months his diary has been full, working dawn til dusk and more every day. Then all of a sudden five days ago everything stops. This close to the election he should be busier than ever! I looked around to see if he had gotten a new one but there was no sign of one. Jones checked the body for me, nothing."

"So, you think someone might have taken his new diary? Maybe to stop us seeing why he was here at this time of night? Or who he was here with?"

"Maybe, or maybe something happened recently to throw him off his schedule. Something that took up all his time to deal with?"

"It's a possibility," conceded Nick, "but not really enough to base an investigation on, is it?"

"And why would he come here to do it?" Judy leaped on another tangent as if she hadn't heard him, "Why come all the way to your offices, sneak upstairs in the middle of the night just to kill yourself?" There must be a thousand places in this city that would be more convenient to do it."

"I'll tell you what bothers me, Fluff, the note itself. It was a goodbye note, probably to someone close?"

Judy nodded, waiting expectantly.

"And did you notice how he signed it? Not Charles, not Chuck, not Charlie. Ishkar. Seems a little impersonal to use your surname for a suicide note to your loved ones."

Judy tilted her head, considering this point and seemed to decide it was useable as another jigsaw piece as she scribbled it down into her notebook.

"When I send you my note, I'll never be so tacky as to sign it Wilde, you can expect a full Nicholas, Carrots. No-one else but my mom will get that."

Judy shot him a glare that said she did not appreciate the dark joke but her response was interrupted by the squawk of her radio.

"Heads up, guys, looks like people are starting to arrive for the day. I interrupted Franklin talking to the councillor, she knows there's been a death, seems pretty shocked about it if I'm any judge. She's on the way up to you with some others." He sounded uncomfortable, "Better brush up on your grief counselling in the next, oh, 20 seconds you have, looks like one of them isn't going to take it well."

Jones had finished his on-site examination of the body and it was already on the way to the morgue where he could continue his investigation in more depth. Jones was arranging the clean-up of the point of impact, taking one more look around before he followed the body.

Judy radioed him back thanking him for the warning just as the elevator doors opened, revealing the trio inside.

Two impalas stood at the exact same height, the similarities in their build and appearance were so close that they couldn't be anything but related. With a few slight marking changes they could be identical. But their appearance was the only thing about them that could be said to be similar.

The impala on the right stood tall and proud, her mouth clenched tightly, her eyes staring down the hallway with a fierce power burning in them. Nick looked into them and saw beneath them was a hint of panic and uncertainty, pushed down second to second and never allowed to pour forth.

This was fortunate as the other impala had no such restraint. Where the first impala stood strong, this one's legs seemed ready to buckle at any moment. She seemed to be having trouble focusing on anything for more than a moment, her pupils dancing around worriedly.

Nick's eyes were drawn across and down to the third person and Nick started in surprise. A red-brown fox was standing beside the trembling impala, his hands reaching up, one holding her elbow, the other on small of her back as he helped guide her out of the elevator. The fox was wearing a dark suit, well-made but extremely conservative. No flashy concessions, no election pins; even his tie was a dull black. The suit wasn't even a fashionable conservative, it's utter dullness almost seemed designed to allow him to be completely forgettable, just another face in the crowd. He was staring up at the impala with a look of great concern.

The proud impala noticed them first as she strode down the hallway, her eyes flickering for a moment with a sense of distaste as she took in the two small officers awaiting them. It was hard to miss the hostility in her glare, even though it had only flashed for a moment, it was so intense it felt like Nick had been slapped.

"Councillor Herd?" asked Judy as the trio arrived in front of them.

The impala nodded curtly and gestured to her side, "My sister Alice and campaign manager Forrest Rier."

Judy and Nick nodded politely to the other two, Rier looked at them stonily while Alice hardly seemed to notice they were there, her eyes now riveted on the entrance to the office beyond them.

"There has been an incident, I understand, "said Herd, drawing their attention back to her.

Judy nodded, "I'm sorry to inform you of the death of your employee, Charles Ishkar."

Alice seemed to crumple as her knees collapsed underneath her, a breathy gasp of despair escaping her, "Oh, Charlie, no…" The small fox beside her was doing his best to support her before Elizabeth slid her arms around her sister and pulled her close. Alice sobbed deeply into her sister's chest, her cries muffled by her sister's strong grip.

Rier stared impassively at the two cops as he awkwardly patted the impala's back, Elizabeth began to walk her sister back down the hall. Judy took a hesitant step forward, paw upraised.

"Excuse me, councillor; we have a few questions we'll need to ask you."

Herd didn't even bother to look back as Rier moved in front of Judy, his stony demeanour unbroken but with a clipped, icy undertone added. "You may question me first, officers. Councillor Herd needs to look after her sister."

Judy and Nick exchanged a look; they both knew the value in questioning an emotionally unbalanced suspect, they might let something slip they never would in the right frame of mind. But as they saw Alice stumbling down the corridor they knew she was too far gone. They wouldn't get anything useful out of her at the moment.

* * *

Rier followed the pair into the office Franklin had provided them with for their interview. The CSIs were moving quickly, but they still hadn't catalogued everything and the scene was still restricted.

The room they entered had more in common with a closet than an office; Nick looked between the doorway and the desk, wondering how the oversized piece of furniture had been squeezed in here. Both the desk and the chairs were massive, heavily reinforced to accommodate a mammal of considerable size and girth and took up most of the little space there was. Nick was astounded that the goat had managed to provide them with a place that was simultaneously much too large and much too small.

Nick edged around the side of the desk, squeezing between the small gap left between the desk and the wall of the office. Judy simply hopped onto the chair and slid over the top of the desk like it was the hood of a car.

She sat down.

She stood up, blushing in slight embarrassment as her head just reached over the top of the desk even as she stood on the chair.

Nick bit back a smile at his partner's awkwardness and moved to stand behind her chair. It towered over him.

He grumbled as he found himself clambering into the chair to stand behind her, ignoring her smirk as she looked down on him pulling himself up to join her.

Rier had already taken the chair closet to the door and was standing on it, staring across at the pair as they struggled to regain any dignity they might have remaining after the scramble around the desk.

Nick added the choice of room to Franklin's growing list of offences: primordial coffee, 'not damn well telling us the scene hadn't been secured yet' and now a cartoonishly outsized interview space. He silently swore to do everything in his legal power to make Franklin pay for this entire evening. Morning now, he realized with a shudder.

Judy cleared her throat as she stood on the overlarge chair, leaning her elbows on the desk as she peered over it at Rier.

"Thank you for agreeing to talk with us, Mr Rier."

The fox stared at her impassively, he had to be here but he clearly didn't enjoy it or have any intention on making it easy for them.

"We just have a few questions we need to ask."

Still the fox gave no reaction beyond a blank, unreadable stare.

"Alice seemed to be very upset when she heard about Mr Ishkar. Were they close?"

Nick noticed the hint of concern in the bunny's voice, wincing because he knew she probably meant it too. All _he_ could think was how this was a good way to shake up Rier a bit. And it did. The fox held steady for a moment before his head moved in an infinitesimally small nod of agreement.

"Alice and Ishkar were both assistants to Miss Herd, "he conceded. "They spent a lot of time working together and I understand were quite close friends outside the office too."

Judy nodded, jotting shorthand notes idly in her notebook. Nick was much too busy playing the part of the stern, silent partner that discomforted the suspect; to his extreme annoyance, he found himself completely outclassed by this dull fox in his dull suit. He redoubled his efforts at silence and sternness, refusing to be beaten.

"Mr Ishkar, he was a popular employee?" continued Judy.

This provoked an even larger reaction from the fox, his lip twitched in what might have possibly been the first hint of a sneer before Rier stamped it down with a frightening self-control.

"Ishkar was popular, yes; despite his poor work record and disruptiveness to the office, people were all too happy to fawn over him."

"You weren't fond of Mr Ishkar, then?"

"No, as I said, he was a disruption; the work he did was of acceptable quality but when he was done he would never seek out something productive to do, he would simply drag all the others back from completing their own tasks or deal out advice he was completely unqualified to was… _frivolous_ _ **.**_ **"**

Rier said frivolous in the same way someone else may have described clubbing baby seals. Nick blinked in surprise and found himself re-evaluating Rier. He thought the fox had been trying to remain composed so as not to appear suspicious to them, but he had openly stated his dislike for the deceased; he had simply done it with all the passion and emotion of a doorknob that you'd have missed it if you only listened to the tone and not the content.

Nick found himself intrigued despite himself. Like any animal community, foxes knew foxes; but in a city as big as Zootopia you couldn't know _everyone_ , no matter what he had told Judy. He knew the people it was worth knowing and that was usually enough, but he'd never even heard of this Forrest Rier before. He was curious and more than a little impressed; the fox had secured a position as campaign manager to the leading candidate in the mayoral elections, he obviously had some talent that made him valuable enough to risk placing a fox in such a public position.

"How long had Mr Ishkar been working for the campaign?" asked Judy, her amethyst eyes never leaving Rier.

"We began to hire en masse for the campaign eight months ago. I believe Ishkar was in the third round of recruitments, so, a bit under six months."

"It must be irritating," added Nick, watching carefully for any reaction, "Working so hard and seeing someone else swoop in, not doing their fair share but still being so popular. Does your staff like you, Rier?"

Rier's blank gaze shifted from Judy to Nick; gazing straight into the fox's eyes, Nick felt a shiver running up his spine. He prided himself on his ability to read people, it's the one skill he had honed more than any other while on the streets. But he couldn't see anything in Rier's eyes. Not anger, not annoyance, not sadness, not guilt. Nothing. It made him feel as if he'd just lost one of his senses.

He'd seen videos of those fish they pulled out of the unexplored depths of the seas, things made of teeth and scales, hunger and ice cold blood; _they_ had more emotion in their eyes than Rier did as he examined Nick.

"No, they do not. But they respect me, officer. It's not my job to be popular, it's my job to make Councillor Herd popular. I keep the wheels turning and the machine works."

"What time did you leave the office last night?" continued Judy, drawing Rier's gaze back to her, much to Nick's relief.

"A little before 8pm, I had a dinner function to attend with some donors and community leaders."

"Where was this?"

"The Waldorf Pasturia."

"And what time did you leave there?"

"Around 2am."

"For?"

"Home."

Judy raised an eyebrow.

"Tundratown," he clarified.

"Can anyone corroborate this?"

"I had a car service hired, I'm sure they could. Also, my wife."

A shocked silence bounced around the tiny closet.

"You're married?" asked Nick incredulously.

"Yes."

" _Married?"_

"Yes."

" _You?"_

"Yes."

"To… to another person?"

Rier let out a faint sigh of exasperation, one of the largest reactions Nick had seen out of him yet. He reached into the inside of his suit and pulled out his phone; playing with it for a moment, he pulled up a picture and held it up to Nick and Judy. His entire demeanour spoke that this was something he often had to do.

The picture had been taken by a wolf, she had grey fur and was wearing an elegant evening gown that complimented the tuxedo worn by Reir. She held her phone in one hand, her other arm around the small fox and had pulled him in tight to the frame of the picture. She smiled happily at the camera while Reir had the exact same unreadable expression he currently wore, his paw resting atop hers as it held him tight.

Nick's eyes flicked back and forth between the picture and the stoic fox opposite him. It was clearly the same person in the picture but Nick's brain had a hard time accepting it as reality.

"You're married to a wolf?" asked Judy.

The temperature of the room dropped a few degrees as Reir somehow managed to become _more_ unreadable.

"Kathy and I are in a civil partnership, yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No," replied Judy, calmly ignoring the chilling atmosphere, 'Did Ishkar?"

Somehow the room got even colder, Nick was sure his breath wasabout to begin frosting.

"I don't know if Ishkar even knew I was married, never mind to a wolf, I certainly never discussed it with _him_. If he did, he never talked to me about it."

Judy stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "Thank you for your time, Mr Rier, I think we're done for now."

The fox left without so much as acknowledging either of them, as if he had been alone in the closet all this time. Nick let out a deep breath of relief he hadn't even known he was holding.

"Well, he's quite straightforward, isn't he?" mused Judy as she stared at the door the fox had closed behind him.

"He's _married?!"_ Nick asked incredulously.

Judy rolled her eyes and clapped her hands sharply, "Nick, focus."

"Carrots, there is something _wrong_ with him. Foxes- we don't act like that! I mean, okay, I know everyone is _special_ and _unique_ and can be whatever they want to be, but no fox is that… cold. It's not in our nature!" He shivered as he thought about his fellow fox again, "It's like someone lobotomized his personality or something."

"Do you think he could have had something to do with Ishkar's fall?"

Nick opened his mouth to agree but stopped himself. His brain had been turning the conversation over and over in his head, mostly running scenarios on how Rier had ever managed to meet his wife, but some brainpower actually devoted itself to doing his job. He wilted slightly, "No, probably not. At least, I can't see the connection yet if there is one."

"Me neither, he clearly didn't like Ishkar, but I don't peg him for a killer. Not with just that conversation anyway."

He paused, not really wanting to bring it up, "Do you really think it had something to do with interspecies prejudice? Ishkar was a wolf, maybe he didn't like seeing one of his own kind with a fox; some sort of fight with Rier, someone slips..." It didn't sound right and it was a pretty big leap on what little they had, but he'd heard of crazier things happening.

She shook her head, "No, I don't think so, I was just trying to get him off balance. For someone who just had their colleague die, he was way too composed. Even if he didn't like the guy."

Nick sighed and slumped down onto the chair, the night's exhaustion starting to catch up with him. "So, who's next? The councillor or the sister?"

Judy was pulling herself up onto the desk, "Whoever it is, we're not having it in here, I can barely see over the top of this monstrosity."

Nick groaned and pulled himself back to his feet, clambering over the desk after her.

* * *

They found the sisters in the staff canteen, Franklin had opened it for them and they were seated alone on the benches opposite one another. Someone had poured them two cups of coffee but they wisely lay untouched by either impala.

Judy was impressed at seeing how well the councillor fitted in with her surroundings. She was wearing an elegant tawny business suit that complimented her fur and a pearl necklace. Logically should not have been more out of place but her entire demeanour seemed to carry with it an aura of 'rightness'. She was supposed to be here, and if the surroundings were less than ideal it was their fault not hers; the scenery had better well get its act together and smarten up and she would say no more about it!

Alice had seemed to be recovered from the initial shock of learning of the death of Ishkar. Elizabeth had taken her sister's hands and was holding them in silent comfort as the two officers approached, drawing the attention of both sisters.

"Excuse us, Councillor Herd, Miss Herd, I'm afraid we need to ask a few questions, do you mind?"

Alice let out a soft hiccup as she was presented with the reality of day once again, but nodded shakily, no longer seeming overwhelmed as she had been earlier.

The councillor squeezed her sister's hoof gently, drawing her attention back. "Alice, I'll talk with the police first. Go and find Forrest, he's no doubt started arrange things but tell him I want to be based out of the Savannah Central office until we have access here again."

Alice stared at her sister for a moment, uncomprehending.

"I'm sure Charles wouldn't have wanted the campaign to falter so close to the finish line, even if he couldn't come all the way with us."

The trembling impala nodded, a distraught smile spreading across her face and she left the canteen to find Rier.

As the door shut behind her, Herd turned back to face Judy and Nick. Where Rier had looked at her without a trace of interest, the impala bored into her with barely concealed distaste in her eyes. Judy had to struggle not to flinch under the power of her gaze.

 _She's just an impala; more importantly she's a potential suspect! Don't let her rattle you like this!_

"Thank you for your time, councillor. Charles Ishkar was your assistant?"

Herd nodded curtly.

"How long had he served in that role?"

Herd looked Judy up and down slowly; Judy could feel herself being evaluated, as if the impala was deciding whether she was worth the bother of answering. She shifted slightly on the bench and the hostility radiating from her lessened.

"I believe he was taken on by Forrest when we began to staff up for the campaign; he had been in the office a few weeks and impressed me with a number of initiatives he spearheaded, I felt he would be better suited in a more important role so I made him my assistant. So, perhaps five or six months."

"You… didn't have any problems with his work since he took on his new role?"

Herd's glare intensified, and Judy found herself willing herself not to take a step back. Though Herd was an impala, Judy felt a faint impression that reminded her of the few times she had met Mr Big. It wasn't an air of criminality, but rather the expectation that those around her would submit to her regardless of who or what they were.

"His work was impeccable." Her anger deflated as quickly as it had flared up and a weary sigh escaped her, weakness shining through her for the first time since they had met her, "My sister is- she- She is an adequate assistant and I couldn't ask for more from her, but she is not as… capable as Charles was. His loss will be a severe blow to my campaign."

Judy suppressed a frown, though the impala sounded upset over the loss of her assistant, Judy couldn't help but notice how quickly she linked it into how it would affect her campaign.

"Did his schedule change in any drastic way recently? New roles or tasks he had to take on?"

Herd frowned in puzzlement, as she stared down at the bunny, "No, why do you ask?"

Judy waved her answer away, "I'm sorry, just one of the questions we ask in a situation like this, you'd be surprised what helps." She took out her phone and pulled up some of the images she had taken of Ishkar's planner.

"We may need to track his movements over the last few weeks but some of his planner entries seem to be in a sort of code, do you know how to read it?"

The impala leaned forward and took a quick glance at the screen, "No, it just looks like some shorthand he used; anything he entered in my schedule was fully legible."

"And the drawings? Do they mean anything to you?"

Herd took a more studied look now, her eyes flicking over a few of the entries before leaning back and shaking her head.

"I don't think it means anything. I've noticed him doing it in meetings sometimes, but he hardly even seemed to realize he was doing it. I'd always assumed it was some sort of nervous tic."

Judy pocketed her phone, feeling another dead end rising up in front of her.

"How would you describe Mr Ishkar's mood over the past few days?"

"He was busy, we all are. He may have seemed more tired than recent days, but it wasn't anything unusual." As she said this, the tone of annoyance began to return to the impala's voice, as if she had just been reminded how frustrated she was supposed to be. Her eyes flicked between Judy and Nick, examining them once again and apparently not liking what she saw.

"Did he seem despondent or give you any reason to think he was going to hurt himself?"

"No."

"Have any messages be received specifically threatening harm against your staff in general or Mr Ishkar in particular?"

" _No._ "

"Have you-"

"Enough!" The impala was suddenly on her feet, glaring down at them with her anger no longer repressed, it was now dancing in her eyes. "Enough of this charade. One of my staff, my friends, is dead. This is not a joke!"

Judy turned to look at Nick, unable to believe that even he had been doing something inappropriate in a situation like this. But all she saw was the same look of bafflement she had on her own face.

Nick lifted a paw in a calming gesture, causing the impala to step back as if avoiding someone with the plague, afraid to be close. He immediately pulled himself back, "Councillor Herd, we are taking this case extremely seriously."

Judy stood, thunderstruck; unable to tell how the interview had suddenly erupted into this strange climax. Herd looked between the two of them, eyes wide and incredulous.

"Seriously? I'm sent you two, the bunny and the fox, and I'm supposed to believe the police are taking this case seriously?"

Nick's jaw snapped shut with an audible click as the three mammals stared at each other, a showdown in the found her surprise getting washed away as a tidal wave of anger swept over her.

 _This again._

 _Unreliable_.

 _Unsuitable._

She looked over at her partner whose face was blank as he appeared to be doing his best impression of Rier.

 _Untrustworthy_.

They didn't believe a bunny and a fox could save the city; but they had! They had worked against the odds and proven themselves time and again, but it seemed that no matter what some people refused to see past their species no matter what they did.

She found herself stepping forward, her finger pointing up at Herd, whose look of disdain never wavered.

"Councillor Herd, you may not think much of us just because we're a rabbit and a fox-"

A bark of laughter interrupted Judy as Herd's look of disdain morphed into one of scorn.

"Be quiet, you silly little girl. You think this is about you being a rabbit? About him being a fox? Forrest is my most trusted aide. _Weasels_ are some of my most loyal supporters! I couldn't care less what species someone is." She almost seemed to increase in height as she loomed over them. "I assure you, both of you are disappointing in your own uniquely special way."

"The public may see you two as the heroes who saved the city, but you should know that there are plenty of us who know what you really are.

"The rabbit who nearly started a race war and the fox who's a role model for every criminal on the continent.

"Do you really think cleaning up your own mess excuses you from responsibility? Do _you_ really think six months at a police academy washes away 20 years of petty crime?"

She straightened back up, her composure settling back on her with a practiced ease.

"Don't say anything, I don't want to embarrass you any more. You may talk with Alice if you wish, but I will be contacting your superiors immediately after this and having someone more reliable assigned. Good day." She nodded at them curtly and swept out of the canteen, leaving Judy in stunned silence.

Judy stood frozen, her hand still upraised to point at Herd; though the impala was long gone Judy seemed unable to process that. She had known the problems she had caused with the press conference and still agonized over that disaster when the thoughts managed to creep up on her unawares. She had occasionally been heckled while on patrol but it was usually just a result of her having to ticket someone and them taking the cheap shot by bringing up her mistake.

She _wasn't_ the cause of tension between predator and prey. Logically, she knew that. She _wasn't._

Heck, she wasn't even the only cop who brought the city to turmoil with a few poorly chosen words. Grizzoli had caused a district wide panic in Tundratown when he somehow misquoted a press release that left residents fleeing the district believing the snow-blowers were about to explode. Wolford had caused the most violent (and tiniest) riot in Zootopian history though a badly timed joke during a visit to Little Rodentia.

Francine had joked that Judy had been the most eager cop the force had ever seen, she even did her screw ups ahead of schedule.

But having her mistake- no, her _failure_ , thrown in her face with such visceral anger had been a first. It brought her screaming back to those moments right after the conference, right back to the moment where she had reached for the fox spray and had seen the betrayal in Nick's eyes and had known just how far wrong she had gone.

It didn't matter that the other officers told her it was all part of the job, it didn't matter that other people had made similar mistakes, or that they all had their own story of how they messed up.

This one was hers and she just couldn't wave it away, just as they couldn't wave away their own mistakes.

A faint tune encroached on her thoughts, something she hadn't heard in years; she blinked, feeling the weight of two paws resting lightly on her shoulders and tilting her side to side with beat of the song.

 _See the little bunnies sleeping till it's noon_

 _Shall we wake them up with a merry tune?_

 _They're so still, are they ill?_

 _Wake up little bunnies!_

 _Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop_

 _Hop, hop, hop-_

She looked around in horror to see Nick smirking down at her (he might have been trying to make it appear like a look of concern, but his obnoxious smirk couldn't help buy shine through), singing the childish nursery rhyme with every sign of thoroughly enjoying it. He was even tilting in time to the music.

"What in the absolute heck are you doing?" she hissed in an appalled whisper.

Nick stopped singing but kept swaying from side to side with the vanished beat.

"Well, see, there's this old wives tale about how to calm down bunnies. When Bogo told me I was going to be paired with the most violent bunny he had, of course I had to go out and learn it. How else could I soothe the savage beast when she finally goes mad?"

She couldn't help the smile that began to spread across her face. You could say this for Nick Wilde, if he could comfort you in a time of need, he'd be there for you. And if he couldn't comfort you, he'd do something so colossally stupid or embarrassing that you just found you couldn't care about what worried you. She really thought he was better at the latter.

She suddenly felt ashamed at how easily the councillor had rattled her. She brought down muggers on a daily basis, how could she let a few words from this impala shake her so? Her eyes flicked back up to the smug fox grinning at her.

"How did what she said not affect you?"

"Well, see, there's this old wives tales about how to calm down foxes-"

" _Nick,"_ she cautioned, her warning tone undercut by the laugh creeping up on her.

"Well, I will admit I was pretty hurt when she talked about 20 years of petty crime. That was uncalled for, I've never been petty."

She broke away from him, brushing his hands from her shoulders, her mood restored. "Alright, alright, I get it, enough moping."

 _Get your head back in the game, Judy, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) try to be a little bit more like Nick._

* * *

 _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_

 _Oh God! Why did you think you could do this? A cop? Really? Get out get out get out get out get out! The bunny was wrong, the impala was right!_

"Lead the way, Carrots," smirking at her as his entire life burned down inside the confines of his head. He let his body follow her on automatic swagger as he began planning his next steps.

 _Okay, finish the shift, go get my money from Finnick, go say goodbye to mom, hop on the next train north, stop off somewhere for a dye job._

 _Goodbye Nick Wilde. Ex-con and failed cop._

 _Hello Sebastian Coole the Arctic Fox. Drifter._

 _Lay low for about 10 years or so then come back when everyone has forgotten about the time you were stupid enough to think you could be a cop._

 _Perfect. All I have to do is abandon everyone I've ever known and cared about._

He sighed internally, knowing Judy was saying something but trusting his subconscious to provide her with encouraging grunts until he could sort himself out.

His conscience and his instincts were in a bitter fight to win out over control of his body. His conscience kept demanding he stay with Judy, to not abandon her after less than a week.

His conscience grabbed the instinctual part of his brain by the collar and dragged it face to face.

" _Listen, sunshine, you better not really be thinking about doing something stupid like abandoning Judy, got it?"_ crooned his Conscience, a manic grin on its face.

" _Ha, what? Me? Never! It's not like I'm going to fail at this thing and get thrown off the force and suddenly have enemies on all sides that want to show what happens when a crooked fox tries to go straight , right?"_ blabbered his Instincts, desperately trying to remember the train timetable; it was sure it knew them like the back of its metaphorical hand only a few months ago.

" _Good to hear, because you might just be able to able to outrun some past associates that aren't too happy with you, but I promise you can't outrun me."_

His Instincts found to its shame that part of itself had broken off to side with his Conscience, demanding to stay with Judy as it was clearly the safest place for them all to be; his Instincts whimpered, once again regretting how unfortunate it was to have such a troublesome living arrangement.

Suddenly his Subconscious gave them all a ringing slap around the head. _"Enough whining! She just asked a question that needs a rational response! Get to it!"_ His mind settled down, his Conscience winning out for the moment and replaying the last few moments of the conversation.

"We're definitely the best pair for this case, we already have experience with this sort of thing."

"Mmhm."

"And there's definitely something not entirely right about this whole thing."

"Yep."

"Did you notice anything odd about what she said?" asked Judy.

He waited for his brain to play the next line of dialogue before realizing he had caught up with the present and Judy had turned to face him, awaiting his response.

"Wh- oh, yeah. Yeah! I mean… His work? Reir was complaining about how he was a poor worker, right? But Herd had nothing but praise for him.

Judy was already grinning and nodding in agreement. "Yeah, plus that planner of his, full day after day of nonstop appointments? The wolf was busy, I'm sure of it **.** But was Rier lying? Why would he? Or was Ishkar up to stuff Rier didn't know about?" Her brow furrowed in thought.

"Or, maybe there's just nothing here, Fluff. Something feels wrong to me too, but we can't make it into a crime just because we want one. Maybe Ishkar just… had enough."

She shook her head, "No, it just doesn't feel right. We have something, we just don't know what it is yet. But, it's a place to start. Let's see what the sister has to say!" She turned and bounded down the hall to the lobby as Nick looked on.

 _Oh my god, she is_ such _a dumb bunny. Did that stupid rhyme actually cheer her up? How did that work? Wait! Am I the responsible one in this partnership?_

That last thought sent a shudder of fear through him.

He had tried shaking her shoulder and calling her name in the canteen but had gotten no response. He'd found it a little creepy how still she was back then and had been worried something in the bunny had broken. He saw the song every morning on the back of his cereal box and thought something as stupid as that would snap her out of it without having to actually get _emotional;_ and he had to admit he would always cherish that mixed look of horror and disgust she had given him when she realized what he was doing.

He thought back the first day he had met her and how he'd left her, crushed, disillusioned and sinking into wet cement. He was sure the bunny would be on her way home by the end of the week. But to his well concealed surprise, the bunny had appeared before him less than 24 hours later, somehow with even more enthusiasm than when he had first met her.

It felt like the last six months had been those two meetings played on repeat. Judy would get knocked down by something, but she didn't stay down; she'd use the opportunity to bounce back harder and more driven than before.

 _But I suppose if she didn't, she'd never have gotten to Zootopia in the first place._

 _But isn't that what I do?_

 _No, there's a difference between not letting them get to you and not letting them_ see _they get to you._

He looked up in time to see her tail disappearing around the corner. He wasn't sure at what point it had happened, but seeing Judy recover so quickly from his few stupid words had somehow calmed him down. If she wasn't worried, why should he be?

 _Well, she just got calmed down by a song for four year olds. Is that really who you should be taking your social cues from?_

His Conscience leaped out and viciously jammed its heel into the fingers of the climbing doubt, letting it fall back into the pit where he kept all those unpleasant thoughts.

 _Good old Conscience, I knew I kept you around for something._

"Nick?" Judy had poked her head around the corner, looking back at him.

 _Get your head back in the game, Nick, and (I can't believe I'm saying this) try to be a little bit more like the bunny._

He jogged after her.

* * *

He caught up with her just as she reached the lobby and spied Alice standing near the door with Reir, the fox was nodding and patting her hand as she spoke to them before walking out to the plaza. Other office workers were entering the building now; a steady trickle of ones and twos began to fill the lobby.

Alice saw them heading for her from across the lobby and gave them a small wave, her face wobbled between the uncertainty of whether to smile or cry and it seemed like a slight breeze could push her either way.

Judy slowed her pace as she approached, returning Alice a small wave as she did so.

"Miss Herd, I'm sorry for your loss, I understand you and Mr Ishkar were close friends."

The impala nodded tightly, the smile on her face threatening to fall but she simply swallowed heavily and managed to maintain her fragile composure.

"Thank you so much for taking care of… of Charlie." She looked from Judy to Nick as he stood behind her. Her eyes were red and watery, but as she looked at Nick she seemed be really seeing him for the first time.

"Oh! You're the fox!" Her tone was surprised, almost happy.

"That's what the ladies call me but I never knew my reputation was so widespread." He flashed a cheeky grin as Judy elbowed him in the ribs, but Alice just laughed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. It's just that Charlie liked you. He was so excited when he saw you in the newspaper this week, he talked about you all morning." Her smile spread wider, becoming truly happy for a moment as she reminisced. "He said you'd be important."

Nick's grin froze as he heard this. His playful banter had strayed into a most unfamiliar territory, admiration. "Oh, well, that's… that's very humbling. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to know him." He did his best to ignore the massive grin spreading across the bunny's face as she watched him fumble his way through an honest response.

"I know he'd be so happy that it was you taking care of his-" Alice's voice broke again as she realized what she was about to say next.

Nick broke in, hoping to forestall another breakdown by the impala. "Hopps and I will do our very best to discover exactly what happened."

Judy nodded in agreement, "We only have a few minor questions to ask and we can be on our way."

Alice reined herself in again and nodded, gesturing for them to go ahead.

"You worked rather closely with Charles, did you know what his schedule was for the- for yesterday?" asked Judy, her notebook out once again and pencil in hand.

She shook her head, looking despondent already.

"I'm sorry, no, beyond a few set appointments he had to be very flexible, his schedule could change a lot throughout the day. He dealt with any last minute or unscheduled additions to Elizabeth's diary. It was kind of hard to tell where he would be next or what he would be doing."

Judy noted this down as Nick studied the impala, the earlier revelation of Ishkar's admiration had unsettled him.

"Oh, but he was going to meet Hadley after dinner, I think."

"Hadley?"

"A friend of his, um, a big guy, kind of looks like a lion, but… not." She looked a little embarrassed at the ambiguity of the statement.

Nick took out his phone and panned through the images of the evidence Judy had sent him, bringing up the picture of the wallet with the photograph; he recognised the species if not the actual person. A liger. Great.

He held the picture up to Alice who nodded, "Yes, that's him." A frown crossed her face.

"Something wrong?" asked Nick.

"No," she replied, shaking her head.

"You sure?" he pressed.

"Yep." She nodded again, more emphatically this time.

 _Liar,_ thought Nick.

If he hadn't been looking right into her face as she frowned he would have missed it. It was only for fraction of a second, but something had flickered across her eyes. Something she saw or didn't see or… something. He'd bet his career on it.

But he wouldn't bet Judy's.

He'd been wrong before, in the academy; plenty of times. And even though every ounce of his hustler's soul was screaming at him to pick this thread up and run with it, he let it drop. He tucked it back in with the rest of the half-clues and guesswork and suppositions to let them stew, trusting them to leap out when it finally made sense.

"Can you think of any-" continued Judy before Councillor Herd suddenly stepped between her sister and Judy, not bothering to deign Nick or Judy with even a glance.

"Alice, the car is here, we need to go now. You can talk to the officers that come to the office later." She was already walking towards the door, not bothering to check if her sister was following.

Alice opened her mouth as if to say something to the pair, hesitated, then nodded politely to them and hurried out the main doors after her sister.

Judy pursed her lips as she tucked away her notebook, watching the departing impalas but not moving to stop them. They stood there for a few moments; the flow of employees was increasing now, and Nick noticed a few glares shot their way as the tide of people broke around them. He nudged Judy towards the door and followed her as they squeezed their way through the crowd.

They wound their way through the fountains on the way back to the car, the plaza was stirring with the first activity of the day. The spot where Ishkar had so recently laid was empty; the area was cordoned off but there were mammals sitting only feet away from it, eating breakfast. By this afternoon the site of the wolf's demise would be scrubbed clean as if nothing of significance had occurred. Life in the city moved on.

He pulled up the image he had shown to Alice, hoping something would jump out at his sleep deprived brain. His focus was drawn to the photograph of Ishkar and his friend and he found he couldn't pull his gaze away from the grinning wolf.

The wolf had known about him, had apparently admired him. And didn't _that_ thought scare the hell out of him. He was pretty sure Judy admired him in some weird pitying way, but Judy didn't really count; half the things she thought were crazy anyway.

His partner was ahead of him when her pace faltered for a moment and she took a quick glance around at him. A few steps later she took another glace, a small smile now on her face. This continued as they walked, the smile on her face a little larger with each look until he couldn't ignore it any longer.

"What is it?"

"Ishkar was a _fan,"_ she said, hardly able to contain her delight.

"What?"

"You've been a cop less than a week and you already have _fans,"_ she continued in bright accusatory tone."No cop has fans. Bogo's been on the force for thirty years and he doesn't have a fan. Delgato rescued that _school bus_ single-handedly last year and he doesn't have any fans. But you do!" She punctuated this last statement by planting her feet firmly on the ground and pointing her finger at him in the cheeriest accusation he'd ever heard.

"I do _not_ have fans," he groaned as he walked past her, "It was just an offhand comment from a nice impala who wanted to be kind to the fox. Trust me, I've gotten the weirdest compliments from people who think they're being _progressive_ **.** I seem to remember one embarrassing incident where the best a bunny could manage was calling me _articulate_."

His attempt to embarrass her into stopping was rebuffed with a laugh as she scampered after him. "Oho-no, Nick. A sweet impala like her? She's not some dumb prejudiced bunny, you saw how close she was with Reir. Ishkar talked about you _all_ morning. You're _im-por-tant."_ She teased the last word out making him wince.

He quickened his pace, eager to get out of the plaza and back to cruiser but Judy clutched at his arm, letting herself be dragged along as he continued stalking forward, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"Oh, Officer Nick! You're so handsome in your uniform, can I have an autograph?"

"Carrots…"

"So brave! Do criminals really throw themselves at you to be arrested?"

" _Hopps…"_

"Tell me what your nickname was and you'll never hear another word about this."

His jaw shut tight, choosing the lesser of two evils.

She laughed as she released him and bounded ahead towards the cruiser.

"You made your choice. Come on! Wolford's gonna love this!"

He stared at the bunny racing towards the car and his humiliation.

Okay, three-quarters of the things she thought were crazy. At least.

Maybe it wasn't too late to catch that train.


	4. Chapter 4

"Alright, number four, step forward and repeat."

The sound of shuffling feet was the only answer"

"Come on, come on, embarrassed you won't be as good as number three? Don't worry; an old rogue like him? I'm sure he's been in plenty of line-ups, plenty of times to practice."

Number three, an elderly llama in a sweater vest grinned widely at the mirrored glass, he had really gotten enthusiastic. Number Four, a grizzly bear in her mid-twenties, dressed in a sharp business suit looked a little nervous but stepped forward after the llama smiled encouragingly at her.

"'Give me the money and no-one gets hurt!'"

"Very good! I almost reached for my wallet right then!" The line-up laughed at the weak joke, it was always a good idea to find the person questioning you humorous. The less funny they were, the harder you laughed. One question you never wanted them to ask was, 'Do you think I'm funny?' because there was no right answer to that or, at least, no answer that wouldn't displease the questioner.

"I think that deserves a round of applause, don't you?"

The bear stepped back into line as the rest of the line-up clapped enthusiastically. Nick was surprised at how much they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"Nick, stop that," Judy hissed from her chair at the back of the room.

Nick released the intercom cutting them off from the group standing on the other side of the mirrored glass and turned to look at her as she continued pouring over her notes; she stifled a yawn that only reminded Nick how long it had been since he'd last slept. She'd been consulting her notepad on and off ever since they'd got back to the station and settled into their long wait for Bogo. Their shift had officially ended hours ago but Judy had refused to leave until she had a chance to talk to the chief and Nick, for some reason he still wasn't sure of, had decided to wait with her.

Getting a meeting with the chief was tough at the best of times, but with all the increased activity in the city it was nigh on impossible as the buffalo moved from one dilemma to the next. The best option was to go somewhere you knew the chief would eventually show up to and lie in ambush. The past few weeks in the station had been packed full of officers hiding behind doors and lurking at corners with reports and expense forms clutched in their paws, leaping out with desperate cries of ' _Signature!"_

As Clawhauser had been regaling the two on what he thought of Gazelle's newest album he had let slip a tip that Bogo was going to be sitting in on a line-up later that morning and so the two had settled in to await their quarry. They'd already had to chase off Rhinowitz and Trunkaby who had arrived shortly after them, so Nick was pretty sure the intel was good.

A few minutes ago an eclectic mix of mammals had been ushered into the room and were left to mill around unsupervised. It was a strange mix of suspects; besides the llama and the bear, a griraffe stood on one end and a beaver on the other with a mix of other mammals in-between. Nick had taken the opportunity to practice what he'd learned in the academy.

"C'mon, Carrots, they do whatever I tell them. Do you think I could get the beaver and the gopher to kiss?"

" _Nick._ "

"I see the way they're looking at each other; they just need a matchmaker."

"Bogo will raise hell if he catches you messing around with them."

"Oh, fine," he pressed the intercom again. "Thanks for your co-operation, folks, someone will be along to continue the questioning soon." The few mammals who hadn't had the chance to read the line looked crestfallen.

Nick studied them through the glass, "Can't we take on this case? I like these guys a lot more than the wooden fox and the crazy impala sisters. And what sort of crime needs to be committed that you call in an identity parade like this? How could someone confuse a giraffe and a gopher?"

"Is Herd really going to win?"

Nick turned to see to see Judy had put her notebook away and was flicking through news articles about the election on her phone. She had slumped back in the oversized chair; most furniture in the station was still hopelessly outsized for the two smallest officers. Her brow was furrowed and she was chewing her lower lip with her large teeth.

"What's the matter? Afraid you'll be out of a job if she has her say?" asked Nick.

She was no longer suffering from the panic that had gripped her when confronted by Herd, but the last few hours of waiting had given them plenty of time to think over what had happened. Her eyes flicked up from the phone to lock onto his, looking for reassurance, which he was only too happy to provide.

"Don't worry about it; if she wins we'll _definitely_ be out of here. But I have every confidence that you'll make a great petty criminal."

Her frown took on tinges of amusement as a smile fought against it and she shut her phone off. "Your confidence means everything to me," she said as her voice dripped with sarcasm. "I just wish I knew more about how the election is going to turn out."

"Aha, my young and ignorant friend, allow me to educate you in the ways of the world!" Nick stood to attention, his chest swelling with the pride of someone who loved to show off and finally had the chance to do so.

Judy looked at him sceptically, an eyebrow raised in doubt, "What do you know about elections?"

"Rabbit, you are looking at one of the foremost experts in the city!"

Which wasn't true, but he knew enough. Politics was the biggest racket there was and anyone on the, let's say, _less friendly side of the law_ who ignored it did so at their peril. Judy was a better cop than him, he couldn't deny that, she had spent all her life preparing for it; but he had spent 20 years working and hustling every possible angle in this city. If there was one thing he was an expert on, it was the ebb and flow of Zootopia.

He'd even prepared a whole scam for the last elections but Finnick had never been convinced that it would work out; he was just glad he finally had a chance to use some of the material he had prepared.

He grabbed a pen from a nearby table and threw it at Judy, causing her to yelp and duck the tiny missile. "Pay attention, class! There'll be a test at the end of the period."

Judy shot him a death glare and settled back into the chair with her arms folded, clearly not expecting much from her friend.

"Elizabeth Herd: impala, philanthropist, councillor, justifiable hater of the renegade Judy Hopps-"

He ignored the pen as it whistled past him to clatter against the glass.

"-and currently leader in the polls as candidate for our next Mayor. Who is she? Where does she come from? How has she gained such a lead?"

"Herd's a part of the _Old Money_ crowd, half the skyscrapers in Sahara were at least partially funded by her family. They're the best type of old money, the type that stays money. You can find plenty of Prouds and Camwells around the city, but most of them are just a name passed down from rich grandfathers; only a handful got to inherit the important part, the _money."_

Judy couldn't help but let slip a laugh at the naked greed in Nick's voice.

"But if you meet a Herd, you can be guaranteed that they don't have a bank account, they have a bank _vault_. The family sticks together, and when one falls on hard times the rest pick them back up. Sure, other people may be individually richer, but as a whole, the Herds could buy and sell half of Zootopia."

"This loyalty, bizarrely, also extends to friends and employees. Which, now that I think about it, explains the reactions of those two so well. If Ishkar did kill himself they're going to be blaming themselves for not seeing what was coming for him. In their minds, it's their fault. They're supposed to keep everyone safe."

He held a paw up to his ear theatrically.

"But what's that you ask? If Herd is so rich has she just gone and bought the election? I'm glad you asked, my ignorant student! She has not!"

"Probably, anyway," he admitted. "For Elizabeth Herd suffers from the rather unfortunate mental illness of _generosity_." He waved his paws to quiet the shocked gasp Judy didn't make. "I know, I know, sad in one so wealthy, but what can you do? There haven't been many causes she hasn't donated to in the last few years."

"She's seen as a pretty forward thinking person and a lot of people are keen to support someone who's whatever Bellwether… wasn't. She's got the interspecies crowd behind her wholeheartedly, that brings along a surprising amount of family members with it. The education sector is hers too, that's teachers _and_ students; hell, she pretty much has the whole youth vote tied up, and they seem eager for once. Who else… a few trade unions, the Dockers especially; she even has a nice slice of the conservative vote after the embarrassment of the Nighthowler Conspiracy, I think that's what pushes her ahead…"

Judy yawned again and he felt her attention slipping. " _Anyway,_ when you add in that she's served on the City Council for the last decade, she's really the only one with the experience and the reputation for the job. When you're going up against an old pro like Lionheart, you need someone with as much potential as she has; though I hear a lot of the other councillors are supporting her just to spite him."

Though Judy had been dropping off, she perked up at hearing this; a look of annoyance lit up her face, "I can't believe he's in the race _; I can't believe he's_ _second in the polls_! It doesn't make any sense. Who would support him?"

Nick shrugged nonchalantly, "You'd be surprised, Carrots, a lot of people just like the status quo."

"He was kidnapping people! _Kidnapping!"_ Her voice was more laced with incredulity than anger. The ex-mayor had indeed been kidnapping people; but after the conspiracy with Bellwether had been revealed, by the time he came to trial most of the furore had been redirected towards the sheep. The lion had got off with a probationary sentence which had made Judy sullen and unapproachable for a week.

"Well, Lionheart's a politician through and through. You saw all those interviews he did in prison, completely unapologetic. By the time his trial came around people were convinced he'd done nothing wrong just from his attitude alone. You have to admire him."

She glared at him in a way that said she most certainly did not have to.

"Fine, fine, but _I_ admire him. It takes a real talent to pull that kind of thing off. People just like how… _brazen_ he is about the whole thing. And if you manage to look past that one mistake-"

" _Kidnapping."_

 _"_ Alright, fine, look past that one kidnapping-"

" _Fifteen kidnappings!"_

"Yes, okay! _You're really breaking up my flow here, Fluff_. If you look past those _fifteen kidnappings,_ he did a lot of good for this city."

Judy scoffed, "Oh, yeah? Name one."

Nick grinned as she asked just the question he'd hoped she would and unfolded a finger lazily to point at her, earning a groan and a heavy roll of Judy's eyes.

"But it's not just the first bunny cop that benefited from the Mammal Inclusion Initiative, it's been running steady for the last six months despite Lionheart being thrown out. A lot of people benefit from it and even more see it as a worthwhile legacy of the old lion, even if it doesn't affect them directly. He's got my vote anyway."

Judy's eyes widened at this confession. "You're going to support that crook?"

Nick shrugged, "You'd be surprised how eager the Initiative were to get a fox through the academy, they might not have looked too closely at any of his past… indiscretions. If he had the support of a respectable member of the service vouching for him, anyway."

Judy lay slumped against the chair her mouth pursed and staring at him under heavy lidded eyes, unable to retort.

"And Vellari," he continued.

Or rather, he didn't; for Vellari had not even been a possibility to be a candidate in the last election and Nick had no real idea who the black jaguar was beyond a few simple rumours; he had no idea of the mammal's history, who he owed and who owed him. He was as yet unknown to many but still had mass support. He didn't make speeches, he rarely held events, he had moved to Zootopia a few years ago and had made no impression anyone could recount until from seemingly nowhere he announced his candidacy and suddenly surged into third place.

Lionheart stood out no matter who surrounded him, proud and happy to be noticed and thought of as a leader. Herd could fit in with any crowd, never seeming out of place as everyone seemed to welcome her. The jaguar looked more like a particularly charismatic accountant than a politician; he projected an air of unassuming competence, though no-one had any real idea what he might be competent at.

Black spots mottled black fur, he was well groomed with a neat pair of glasses that rested on his snout, a slight greying around the jaw that lent him a distinguished and experienced air.

"Vellari is," hushed Nick, "is rather short for a jaguar, which makes him… a novelty."

A nearly audible blare stung the atmosphere in dramatic shock. Nick tried not to look at Judy, he could just imagine the look she would be giving him. Best to just ignore it and move on quickly.

"Though if Vellari dropped out now we'd probably get Lionheart again, if I'm any judge. Herd's been in the lead for a while now and switched from seeking support to receiving petitions. I guess now she's in the lead she doesn't want to make any promises she'll have to keep, she'd rather receive requests she can choose to grant. It's a subtle but powerful difference."

"Lionheart has no such restraint, you should have seen his last campaign, it was amazing to watch; he promised everything to everyone, and did a pretty good job on delivering some of those promises which is more than I think anyone expected. He's been wooing everyone just as hard this time; if Vellari threw his support behind him, or even just dropped out, they'd flock back to Lionheart before Herd had a chance to scoop them up."

He frowned, thinking on what he'd just said. Lionheart was running pretty much the exact same campaign he had last time and should be doing a lot better, but he was getting a lot of his traditional supporters drained by Vellari. The jaguar had plenty of people endorsing him, but Nick had no idea why. If you asked Nick what Vellari stood for, Nick wouldn't have had a clue other than 'not being Lionheart or Herd'.

 _That's… odd, right? How have I not noticed that before?_

He'd been busy at the academy lately, but that was no excuse for getting sloppy. He made a mental note to check with some of his contacts to see what the word on the street was about Vellari. Someone would know something. A faint wheezing interrupted his train of thought.

He turned to find Judy still propped up on the chair, but now her eyes were closed and mouth open as she lightly snored, her ears flopped limply over the back of the chair.

He opened his mouth to wake her but held himself back. He checked the time and sighed.

 _10 more minutes and we go home and brief Bogo this evening._

He pressed his forehead against the observation glass, enjoying the feel of the cool glass as it kept him awake.

* * *

Bogo lumbered through the office like a force of nature, petitioners swept up in his wake as they scrambled for his attention.

He hated this job.

Oh, he loved being a _cop_ ; if you cut him in half you would find 'policeman' written across the middle along with a spectacular amount of gore.

What he hated was being an administrator.

He'd never wanted the job, never sought it or even thought he'd be particularly good at it. But he really only had himself and his own stupidity to blame for his current position; Higgins had seen the danger well ahead of time and had managed to deftly avoid this fate. Dumb old Bogo had just kept plodding away, doing his job and solving crimes. _That_ was what he was good at.

But he'd gotten promoted for all his hard work. And then again. And then again. And then one day he realized he had been sitting behind a desk for the last six months and couldn't remember the last time he'd been in a life or death struggle with a crazed lunatic wielding a blade the size of his forearm.

Which was good. _It was_. Nadine certainly liked it. No more having to wash the bloodstains out of his uniform or pretending she wasn't waiting up every night he was late coming home. He owed her that after all these years.

And he had to admit he wasn't as fast as he used to be.

He just wished he could be doing what he was born to do.

Another report was waved in his face; by this point he only gave them the most cursory of glances for anything obviously screamed for his attention before scrawling his signature and passing them back. They could have been claiming anything on the reports, he just didn't have enough time in the day to keep ahead of them all. The thought of his desk piled high with paperwork sent a shudder through him.

He held a little kindle of hope that one day the Prosecutors Office would break down his door and toss him out for a web of corruption he'd unknowingly signed off on. At least he wouldn't have any choice in staying then. But his people were too honest, too respectful or too afraid of him to try.

A snort escaped him in something that might have been a laugh at the thought of his officers being too honest or too respectful.

The front desk was crowded; Ben was on duty, of course. The cheetah was one of those cops that always seemed to be around the station. Bogo knew the hours he worked, he signed the wage packets every month; but there was a certain type of cop who got the job so ingrained in their body that they became almost a fixture of the building as much as the bullpen or the shooting range or the in-tray on his desk that never seemed to empty. Bogo had been surprised to find that Ben was one of those cops.

Bogo wasn't sure if Ben was so dumb he was smart, or so smart he was dumb. All he knew was that the cheetah's cheerful attitude was more effective than any stone-faced portal keeper. People were used to passive intimidation from secretaries and security personnel, but Ben's aggressive enthusiasm would drive off all but the most determined callers. If they could get past Ben, what they had was important.

That or they were huge Gazelle fans too.

"What's next?" he grumbled at the desk sergeant as the waiting officers parted before him.

Ben turned to him with his usual bouncy eagerness holding up a file, "Oh, Chief! The line-up you wanted to see should be ready now. And Hopps and Wilde are still _ohokaynevermind_."

The buffalo had already grabbed the folder and turned to walk away, the crowd closing in around the desk behind him; he knew better than to get drawn into Ben's flow or he could risk getting stuck there for who knows how long.

 _The bunny and the fox._

He'd heard Wolford cackling something about Wilde earlier and had taken a few seconds out of his regimented schedule to chew the wolf out and send the group scattering. If he'd caught anyone else talking like that behind another officer's back he'd have come down on them with the full force of Form 41-B 'Conduct of a Bullying or Harassing Nature' (and his soul died a little inside as he thought this); but Wolford was special.

Wolford had the amazing talent of being the most hated officer in the precinct; probably the whole city. And it was a lot harder than it sounded because the wolf still managed to draw people around him with his warped version of charisma.

He furrowed out every rumour and half-truth crossing the station and gleefully revelled in spreading it as far as he could. No-one really took what the wolf said seriously, he never bothered to check anything he heard and his reliability had been in tatters for years as he embellished every story with the most unbelievable details.

There wasn't an officer in the precinct he hadn't crossed and it seemed that at any one time at least a third of the force were furious at him. But the next day they would be laughing it up with the idiot as he gossiped about someone new. For most in the force, Wolford was a good way to blow off steam without actually offending anyone.

When Bogo had first tried to punish the wolf he'd suspended him for two weeks. By the time he came back on duty the station was ready to tear itself apart as insignificant resentments and trivial arguments had blown out of all proportion; the frustrations Wolford usually gathered and submersed himself in had blown out of all control. Ever since then all the punishments Bogo assigned him had kept the wolf restricted to the station; with the amount of infractions he committed on a daily basis the wolf would be nearing retirement before he saw a patrol again.

He was nearly out of excuses to deny the wolf's vacation requests; he couldn't risk having the wolf leave for weeks at a time. Maybe he could start docking vacation days as a punishment?

He'd sent Wolford off to give the Civilian Review Committee a tour of the station, hoping to punish both Wolford and the Committee with one another's company. Another headache he didn't need at the moment, the Review Committee. He sometimes wondered if there was a conspiracy to just keep piling things on top of him to see how long he could last before he collapsed.

He turned his mind back to Hopps and Wilde and checked his watch; he grimaced. They had finished their shift hours ago and deserved to be home in bed. He made a note to set aside a minute to debrief them after this.

The call from Herd had knocked his already low mood down another notch. Not even Mayor yet and he was getting calls from her on how he should run his department. His teeth began to grind audibly at the thought of it and the lurking petitioners began to fade away as they realized this was not the time to approach him.

It was like Lionheart all over again, forcing him to accept the bunny. It wasn't that he didn't think a bunny could be a cop (though, if he was entirely honest with himself, he _hadn't_ thought a bunny could be a cop), what he found more irksome was the idea that he had been forced into running this precinct and then wasn't even allowed to run it the way he wanted.

He had to admit he'd been wrong about Hopps; he had thought the bunny would be dead within a week and he'd just have another burden on his conscience to carry around with him, all because of some stupid political decision. But she had roped in that fox and solved the case that no-one else had, and even managed to do it within the outrageous conditions he'd set.

More importantly, they'd figured out what had really been going on; the crime that no-one else had even thought to look for.

They were better than he gave them credit for.

He opened the door to the observation room. The chair facing away from him was snoring lightly and seemed to have sprouted a pair of rabbit ears that hung over the back. But what was much more alarming than the rabbit ears was the fully formed Nick Wilde that seemed to be attached by the face to the one way mirror; the fox was propped up against it, snoring loudly with his arms dangling by his sides.

 _How did these two idiots ever manage to solve that case?_

He stepped inside and slammed the door loudly.

" _What_ are you two doing in here?"

* * *

Judy started at the loud bang that yanked her from her sleep, trying to remember where she was when Bogo's gravelly voice rumbled throughout the room. She winced.

Nick seemed to have fallen asleep too as he was peering around blearily, blinking heavily and looked like he had no idea what was going on.

She hopped to her feet and looked over the back of the chair at the glowering buffalo. At least he didn't look any surlier than usual, but that wasn't saying much. She shot him a cheerful smile that had no effect on his glare.

 _Oh well, it's not like the day could get much worse. Push on through._

"Chief, we, uh, wanted to talk to you about a case," she began as she jumped down from the chair and walked around it to stand in front of her superior.

"I'm sure you do, Hopps," cut in the chief, "in fact I've already received a call from the councillor on how she wants it dealt with."

Judy winced again, she was really doing that way too much recently. She'd hoped that Herd would have been too busy to call Bogo yet and that she'd have a chance to talk to him before the impala.

"She made it quite clear how little confidence she had in the two of you; 'Anyone but them,' I think were her words."

Nick had plodded over to stand beside Judy, yawning loudly and smacking his mouth repeatedly as he struggled to wake. It took every ounce of Judy's willpower not to deal him a vicious elbow to the gut.

"I can't say you inspire much confidence in me," continued the buffalo.

"Chief, we're tired, we've been up all night and we're not at our best but you _know_ we can handle this case."

"Hopps, considering you had to put your career on the line to get the last case you really wanted, surely you know by now how difficult it is to change my mind."

Judy wilted, last time she had wanted to prove herself and even then she had needed support from the mayor's office just to get the case. An impossible case with impossible restrictions. Bogo wouldn't relent this time.

"I don't like my officers questioning how I run this department."

"Yes, sir."

"But I don't like politicians questioning how I run it either."

Her ears perked up again at this.

"Herd may be on her way into the Mayoral Office, but she isn't there yet. Even if she was, she certainly wouldn't get to decide on how an investigation into a death at her own office would proceed."

Judy let out a whoop of triumph and leaped into the air, giving Nick a punch on the arm as she spun. The fox rocked side to side for a moment but gave no other reaction beyond another yawn.

"But that doesn't mean you're getting the case," added Bogo, causing Judy to feel dizzy at how quickly things kept changing. "There _is_ no case here, Hopps."

She'd raced from asleep to confused to disappointed to elated and back to confused in the last minute. She fumbled at the notebook on her belt, "But sir-"

"Put it away, Hopps, I've already talked to Jones. No signs of a fight, no alcohol or drugs in the system, he even tells me Michaels found a suicide note. This is a non-starter, you know that."

" _But sir-"_

"Enough," he bit out, "A tech is on his way to pull the camera footage as we speak, you can review it later and close the case before you go out this evening. Now go home." His voice brooked no argument. "I have enough to do without the two of you hunting crimes that- _What are they doing in there?"_

The last question came out in a hushed tone, the chief visibly tensed in front of them; for a mammal as large and well-muscled as the chief the tensing went on for a considerable amount of time. Judy followed the chief's gaze to look at the milling group on the other side of the glass. They were happily chatting with one another and acting nothing like a line-up was supposed to.

The sudden dangerous pitch of Bogo's voice had finally done what professional training couldn't; Nick's eyes snapped opened from their sleepy state and he stood ramrod straight.

"Someone… led them in a while ago. Aren't they the line-up?" asked Judy hesitantly.

Bogo pushed the two aside as she moved into the room to stare through the glass, growling. "No, they are not! That's the Review Committee! What the hell does Wolford think he's playing at dumping them here?"

" _Y'knowthechiefisrightHoppswe'dbestbegoing!"_

Nick was already making his way to the door, his paw grabbing the back of her Kevlar vest and dragging her stumbling and complaining as he hurried his way out of the room. She saw Bogo staring at her getting dragged from the room by Nick with a puzzled look on his face. Just before she reached the door she saw his expression suddenly change to one of suspicion and he began to make his way to the door separating the two rooms.

Judy broke free of Nick's grasp as he rushed across the foyer, making a bee line for the exit, they'd officially signed off hours ago and had nothing else to keep them here.

"Bet you're glad you didn't make them kiss," Judy couldn't help but chime in with a smug smile as the fox looked back over his shoulder at the doorway.

"Bogo and I are gonna laugh about this, Carrots, I promise. We just need a little time for him to calm down. Say a day or so-"

 _"WOLFORD! WILDE!"_ Thundered the voice of Bogo throughout the entire building.

"Or, hey, maybe a year or five."

He darted through the door and Judy followed.


	5. Chapter 5

Nick trudged up the uneven steps that led off the main thoroughfare towards his apartment. The near constant drizzling of the sprinklers in the Rainforest District drummed a steady beat on his umbrella. Streams of water ran alongside the path into pools that drained away into the meticulously designed system the district had set up to prevent any flooding. The district was a wonder of modern engineering, just as much as Tundratown or Sahara Square, but it wasn't as readily apparent. Most people saw the sprinklers and thought that was it, having no idea of the complex and labyrinthine plumbing system that ran throughout the district **.**

Nick had spoken to one of the plumbers that maintained the district and found that no-one person knew the entire system or how it worked. Among themselves the system was simply referred to as _The Works;_ it had been built decades ago and the most of the original architects and crafters had long since retired or passed on. Those who followed had never been taught the full scope of the system as the complexity of it demanded teams focus on one area to the exclusion of all others. Mammals would spend years in apprenticeship to master plumbers just to learn their one section of the Works, trusting that each other team would take the same dedication they did to prevent the entire system from failing. If one section fell, the rest would soon follow. It was surprising how few mammals actually realised how close they were to a sudden flood at any moment; they only thing keeping it back was the sense of pride the plumbers took in a job well done.

Only the most senior of their union had a faint grasp on how the system interacted with one another; a few years ago Lionheart had offered to fund a project to model the entire district through a computer system to allow them to finally understand it in its entirety. It had almost caused a small crisis for the lion as the entire organization had threatened to walk if he proceeded. The Plumbers Union took great pride in their work and over the years a layer of secrecy had descended over it; each team could only work on one section and as a result guarded the workings of their pipes with a fervent passion. Lionheart had acquiesced to their demand and had even removed the original blueprints from City Hall and delivered them personally to the union, an act which had won their undying support.

Nick found the few plumbers he'd met to be slightly odd, but he'd seen plenty of weirder things in the city. At least the plumbers were harmless.

The path narrowed and began to wind around the trunk of a large tree, spiralling upwards towards the forest canopy. It would branch off every so often to a series smaller buildings that got more rickety and dilapidated as Nick passed them. He finally reached a platform near the top with two floors of apartments; the entire complex looked slightly deflated, as if someone had just told the building it wasn't all that interesting and it had taken it rather personally.

He took the creaking stairs to the second floor and made his way along the walkway to his door. As he fumbled his key into the lock the apartment door next to his opened a crack and a snout poked out under the security chain still on the hook; a pair of eyes gleamed out of the darkness at him **.** The mouth turned up with a slight smile.

"Hey Nick."

"Hey Karen."

'Still a cop?"

"They've gotta wait at least a few weeks before throwing me out. The publicity would be terrible," Nick replied with a smile.

"The mold is back," said the skunk, taking a tangent so abrupt Nick felt like he'd just gotten whiplash."

Nick sighed. The humidity of the Rainforest District was always a problem, but for the residents of this row it was particularly bad. The complex had originally been planned as part of an upscale neighborhood and numerous buildings had been started, but when the planned gondola stop had been scrapped, the construction had been abandoned or hurriedly finished and left to deteriorate. The contractors who finished the apartments had cut corners on the materials and the entire complex was constantly at war with the environment that constantly managed to slip its way into the apartments. The problem had been going on for years but Wagstaff refused to do anything about it.

"Mr Wagstaff was poking around your place earlier."

The landlord would often barge into Nick's place uninvited, using any excuse he could think of for his 'investigations'. He never took or damaged anything, he just seemed to enjoy invading Nick's personal space and hoping he'd find something incriminating to get the fox evicted. Nick didn't even know why, it's not like anyone else would want to rent this dump.

"Thanks for the warning, Karen."

"Bye Nick." The skunk retreated back into her apartment, the door shutting behind her. Nick heard the sound of the lock turning and a bolt sliding home. He felt sorry for Karen and her husband; it wasn't a bad neighbourhood (at least, it wasn't a particularly _criminal_ neighbourhood; it still had plenty of other problems such as being unhealthy, inconvenient and having a general atmosphere of depression that could kill the optimism of even the most hopeful mammals who lived there), but there was something in the skunks' past that had caused them to retreat from the world. They were friendly neighbours, but Nick rarely saw any more of them than what could be glimpsed through the crack in their door.

He put his shoulder to his door and shoved, the swollen wood of the door groaned for a moment before relenting. He made his way into his apartment, it was surprisingly roomy. The building had originally been designed for larger mammals than foxes and skunks but most of the tenants were of a similar size to Nick and his neighbours. They all had the common characteristics of mammals generally thought of as untrustworthy and small enough that they could be easily pushed around. Wagstaff would never let himself into a hyena's apartment uninvited, but a hyena would never be forced to take residence in a place like this.

Nick flicked on his dehumidifier and heard it sputter to life to continue its futile battle against the humidity. The living room was large, but seemed to slump at the edges as if ready to collapse on him at any moment; the casual mess he left scattered around the apartment did nothing to alleviate that feeling. Garish shirts and ties lay scattered across his furniture, dropped wherever they had been removed; stacks of magazines, newspapers and the odd book piled precariously on end tables. He took a casual glance around and found a few things out of place, enough for Wagstaff to let Nick know that he had been there and that he didn't care that Nick knew he had.

Nick began to undress and drop his uniform as he made his way to the shower; as he turned on the light he was confronted with the creeping signs of mildew around the corners of the room.

Just one of many features that kept this place so affordable.

He jumped into the shower and yelped as he turned it on and a cool blast of water enveloped him; he danced from foot to foot for several moments as he got used to it, beginning to feel relief as the cool water soaked his fur.

Bogo's last bellow of anger came back to him and he couldn't help but smile now that he was a comfortable distance away from the buffalo.

He'd enjoyed his time at the academy (once he had got used to the idea of getting up at dawn) and his first week on duty had been gratifying, though he suspected that was in large part due to Judy's enthusiasm that had that insidious way of worming its way into those around him. But he found that he was still much happier being able to get such a reaction from the chief with just a little bit of fun, it reminded him of older times.

He still remembered his first encounter with the buffalo and how easily the chief had dismissed him as 'a fox'. It wasn't anything he hadn't experienced before but the tone of scorn in Bogo's voice had rose the fur on Nick's back. Bogo was the chief of police, and although that just meant he was the biggest jerk of them all, Nick had somehow expected better from the chief (or at least expected him to hide his disdain better).

He had warmed considerably to the buffalo since that initial meeting, mostly due to Judy's efforts; she seemed to oscillate between hating and respecting the buffalo in equal measures, but on average she seemed to like the chief.

His thoughts turned from his gruff boss to his partner. The first week of them working together was finally coming to an end. He couldn't remember the last time he'd spent so much time in such close proximity with anyone; probably not since elementary school.

Nick had never thought of himself as a lonely person; Nick Wilde had plenty of friends, he just never hung out with anyone for too long a period. Just enough to catch up and trade some conversation or rumors on what was happening in Zootopia before moving on with a laugh. Even Finnick was kept at a certain distance and he'd known the fennec since they were both kids. By now he should have been ready to chew off his own ankle to escape the rabbit's company but he wasn't.

And the rabbit certainly wasn't closer to him than Finnick, but for some reason he didn't mind the idea that she could be one day. While the rabbit exasperated him at times, he found that he never really tired of her company.

He thought back on the week that had flown past him. Judy calling him the night before to make sure he was prepared. Judy offering to come and collect him for his first day of work (which he had flatly refused). Judy taking him on a tour of the station. Judy introducing him to his new coworkers. Judy taking him on his first patrol. Judy seemed to fill most of his thoughts for the last week and even beyond that. They passed through his mind as he stood there with his eyes shut.

His daydream was dispelled several minutes later as he began to shiver, the cold water washing away his thoughts as it turned from refreshing to chilling without him noticing. He hurriedly turned off the pressure and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel to dry himself off.

 _Too tired to remember to get out of the shower,_ said his brain, providing him a plausible excuse.

He made his way back into the living room and grabbed his phone checking the time and grimacing at how few hours there were between now and when he had to be back at the station. He pulled up his contacts and flicked through them, calling one; it went to voicemail after two rings.

 _Still before noon, of course he's not up._

"Hey Otto, it's Nick. Call me, I need some info."

He cut the call and threw himself into a battered recliner as he sat staring out the window, wondering who might know something about Vellari. Finnick and most of his other contacts probably wouldn't know much more than himself.

The window was wide and took up a large part of the wall facing out over a drop down onto the forest floor. It had been installed when the building still had a hope of respectable tenants. It was the one part of the apartment Nick liked and probably the only reason he still put up with Wagstaff(though he wouldn't expect different treatment wherever he went). At this hour, the morning sun broke through parts of the thick canopy and hit the falling rain, refracting the light into a great multitude of rainbows that crisscrossed across the top of the rainforest. It wasn't exactly _Nick Wilde_ , but he couldn't deny that it looked nice.

He closed his eyes to think on who else he could call and sleep instantly claimed him.


	6. Chapter 6

The sounds of an argument drifted through Judy's window from the street outside.

The drawback about living so close to the station (besides the tiny space and exorbitant rent) was that the street outside always had something happening on it, especially during the daytime. This was not a positive for someone with hearing as good as hers and a desperate need to sleep through the day.

Her eyes were dragged open by the growing noise of the fight and Judy groggily pulled herself to her feet and almost went crashing face first into the floor. She looked down to see she had kicked her light blanket off her during the night and it had tangled around her ankles. Despite this she still found herself uncomfortably warm and was happy she had managed to sleep through the worst heat of the day; she almost made a mental note to thank Nick for getting them stuck on the night shift then dismissed the idea, knowing it would only make the fox more insufferably smug.

She kicked the blanket off furiously and hopped over to the window in one leap, yanking the blinds up and pulling the window open. She stuck her head out and looked down to find the source of the racket. On the street below a pair of llamas faced off against a deer, a wolf and a koala. The deer and a llama were hugging one another and attempting to wrestle one another to the ground. The other llama had the wolf in a headlock and was leading him around as the koala whacked at the back of his knees repeatedly. The fight was carried on with all the grace and professionalism of drunken toddlers but a crowd had still gathered around the group, giving them a sizeable amount of room to continue their discourse.

"Hey! Knock it off! Don't make me come down there!" Judy's voice held all the power of command she had accumulated through her past six months on the force.

Crowd and fighters both stopped and turned as one to search out for the voice of authority, but could only see a small bunny in carrot-print pajamas looking down on them. The scuffle resumed. Judy's glower would have made Bogo proud and she was just about to grab her badge and march down to run them all in when the whoop of a police siren signaled an end to the fight.

The crowd shifted slightly, looks of mild interest at a fight done poorly were now morphing into the looks of mild chagrin of people who realized they'd been caught doing something rather embarrassing.

The combatants were left standing awkwardly as they tried to explain to Rhinowitz and Trunkaby like a bunch of schoolkids who had been caught fighting by their teacher. Their past disagreements forgotten as they tried to get out of trouble.

"What? Fighting? No! I was just giving my old friend, Mr- uh- Deer, here a friendly hug, it's been ages since we've seen each other," said one of the llamas. The two mammals had their arms wrapped around one another's shoulders which was a clear indicator there was something wrong, no-one ever wrapped their arm around someone else unless they were drunk or part of a crowd at a sporting event.

The weak excuses drifted up to Judy's window and she almost had to admire the sheer unbelievabilty of their claims and although Rhinowitz and Trunkaby clearly weren't buying it she could tell that this argument could be dragged on for much longer than necessary; she called down to her co-workers and gave them a wave as they looked up and jerked in surprise at seeing her.

"Hey guys, the llamas, the deer and the wolf, Public Disturbance; you could maybe push it to Attempted Assault, but it was a lot more attempt than assault."

The crowd laughed and the pseudo-fighters all shrunk a little, huddling together in collective embarrassment. Nothing could inspire solidarity like a little public humiliation.

"Thanks Hopps," called Rhinowitz as he began to steer the group towards the cruiser.

"And that koala making his way through the crowd there, he was part of it."

The crowd jeered lightly, half at Judy for giving up the koala and half at the koala at his failed attempt to wriggle his way out of it. Trunkaby lumbered his way through the audience with a surprising amount of speed and care and scooped up the koala, carrying him back to his friends by the scruff of his suit. The crowd began to break up as the show was clearly winding up.

"The carrots suit you, Hopps," called Rhinowitz as he opened his driver door, grinning up at her. Judy looked down at her pajamas, patterned with countless numbers of the orange treat. Though tempted to make a rude gesture at the rhino she restrained herself, there were still a few straggling audience members watching the shouted exchange between the cops.

Trunkaby gave her a wave of thanks as he climbed in beside Rhinowitz and the two sped off, the sound outside now returning to its low constant background buzz.

Fights like that were becoming more and more common throughout the city. Nothing really serious but enough to keep the precinct constantly occupied with putting out the fires. It only ever seemed to die down at night, when the it got so late it turned into early the next day, and even then it still kept them busy.

Judy jumped down from the window and checked the time, yawning when she saw how little sleep she'd had but knowing she should start getting ready to head out to work. She grabbed a towel and made her way down the hall to the washrooms. The tiled room had large mirror on wall with a variety of different sized counters and sinks. Numerous showers of various sizes stood opposite, each in its own booth with enough room to change. It wasn't perfect, but it was the best privacy you could hope for in the Pangolin Arms. Judy knew some of the other mammals had a problem with it, but compared to the warren in Bunnyburrow it was a vast improvement.

As she got into one of the smaller booths her thoughts turned back to this morning; waiting for Bogo had probably been a mistake. She thought she had gotten past that sort of behavior, she thought she had learned how to switch off. She thought she had found something to keep her from getting so _neurotic_.

 _Stupid Nick, this is all his fault. He shouldn't be so likeable._

Nick was fitting in well at the precinct; she'd been worrying about how he would be treated for the last few months and that had helped distract her from her single-minded devotion to crime, but it seemed that he didn't need her help.

Was she a bad friend for thinking that he did?

 _Probably_ , she chided herself half-heartedly.

Fangmeyer had been right, she needed a new hobby.

 _Hold on a minute, Hopps! Did you make Nick your hobby for the last few months? Isn't that more than a little creepy, Judy? Do people turn their friends into their hobby?_

She resolved to take this secret to her grave.

 _Okay, sort it out, what do you like?_

 _Policing. Check, got that covered._

 _And, uh, I also like…_

She tried to think about what she had been doing in her spare time recently and came up with a blank. Back in Bunnyburrow she had been active, but most of her hobbies had revolved around preparing for the academy in one way or another. Since arriving in Zootopia most of her spare time had been spent with Nick; either spending time helping him study or him showing her the twists and turns of Zootopia.

She tilted her head in thought. She thought he had just been trying his best to avoid her, admittedly sometimes overrigourous , , but while she'd been teaching him what she knew about being a good cop had he been teaching her about what he knew; Zootopia?

They'd parted earlier this morning at the train; Judy was only two stops away from the precinct but Nick lived further out, somewhere in Rainforest. She'd tried to get him to invite her round a few times but the fox seemed adamant in keeping her well away from his home. She took the hint after a few attempts but was still curious about where he lived; when he'd seen her broom closet of an apartment for the first time he hadn't stopped teasing her about it for a week.

If she was this tired there was no doubt the fox would be worse off than her; he'd had further to travel home and back to the station.

 _I should do something to celebrate his first week. Something to help him relax._

This wasn't strange-Judy-using-her-friend-as-a-substitute-for-a-hobby, this was normal-Judy-who-just-wanted-to-congratulate-her-friend-on-a-job-well-done. She was almost positive.

She knew a few cops that would be ready and more than willing to come out for a few drinks, all they needed was an excuse (though most of the time they didn't even need that). She considered this as she stepped out of the shower and began to dry herself off and threw on a light bathrobe. It could be fun, but she had a feeling that wouldn't be the right way to go about it.

She made her way over to one of the sinks and began to brush her teeth with the meticulous nature of a bunny. Dental hygiene was one of the most important facets of rabbit life; her grandfather had actually been a dental model when he was younger, something he still refused to stop talking about today much to the family's increasing boredom.

The week had been long, much like her own first week. She wasn't sure if all new recruits felt like they had several months' worth of time crammed into their first few days, or if it was just the two of them. Regardless, she was sure that Nick was just as tired as she was; a small celebration with just the two of them would probably be for the best.

 _So… what? Dinner? A movie? Maybe just a quick drink or two at the bar?_

Night's out were usually planned by Nick; actually, they were always planned by Nick. The first place _she_ had brought _him_ to had been the bar last night; and going to a cop bar didn't seem like the best way to forget about the hectic week, though she was sure the rest of the crowd would make it a memorable night.

She began to feel that overwhelmed sensation as all the places they'd visited together began to crowd into her head, each scrambling to make its case for why Nick would like to visit them best.

 _Stop over-thinking! See if Nick wants to do anything before going into crazy bunny planning mode._

She looked into the mirror before her, her enthusiastic brushing had created a thick froth (Pawpaw would have been proud); feeling a little silly, she let it dibble out like foam on a crazed animal and raised her paws as if she was about to pounce. She gave her reflection a wild look and snarled.

 _MAD BUNNY ON THE LOOSE!_

Lisa Wallow lumbered her way down the hallway, the tired floorboards creaking in protest at her passage. She was trying her hardest not to look down on this place, but she felt the building wasn't even trying to meet her half way.

It had all sounded so nice when Ronald had surprised her with the plans for the bath redesign on her birthday. He'd been secreting away money for years, a little at a time, and had eventually saved enough for one of the high class watering hole redesigns that she had always dreamed about but never seriously considered. He was such a sweetheart.

But that had been months ago; what had been planned as a few weeks' stopover in the Pangolin Arms while the work was done had dragged out longer than anyone had anticipated.

Ronald had assured her that they'd be back in their apartment within a fortnight, but that was before the roof had collapsed on the foreman and delayed the apartment redesign by several months and counting.

She'd tried to make the best of it and, if she was honest with herself, the Pangolin Arms wasn't too bad. While her neighbors weren't exactly friendly, they were on the most part cordial (except for that weird antelope duo) and she'd even tried inviting over the nice badger couple opposite them for a rather cramped dinner party in their apartment.

She let out a little internal sigh as she recalled trying to maneuver around the table with any sense of grace as she served the meal. She really needed more room.

Large mammals had it easy.

At least, that's how most of society saw it. The bigger you were, the easier you had it. But Lisa had never felt that way; it was easy for the politicians the cops and the firefighters and the construction workers, but when a hippo wrote an essay for school on how she wanted to be an interior designer the best she could hope for was a suppressed titter. She had been constantly reminded that hippos did not have the style or grace for such a career; and although kids would grow out of such silly preconceptions, she still sometimes saw the flicker of shock when a new client would walk into her office and see her behind the desk.

Lisa liked pretty things; she revelled in the cute and the delicate, but she'd learned long ago that no-one would take a cute hippo seriously. She still couldn't forget the time she'd worn that jaunty beret with the flower pinned to it at her last job. No-one had said anything to her, but it had been a turning point and over the next few weeks she got more and more aware of glances at her out of the corner of eyes and she'd walked into enough rooms that had suddenly gone quiet to know she had been the topic of conversation. A few months later her contract had ended and the company had chosen not to renew it.

The store had been very nice and let her return the beret. Hippos were better aiming for a formal business type of fashion, at least that was more accepted; and while it wasn't impossible for a hippo to wear something cute, Lisa just didn't have the confidence. She'd learned it was best if people just stuck to their preapproved roles.

It had been for the best; she had her own business now and enjoyed her work, but at the time the whole experience had been rather devastating.

She shook her head, trying to clear away the old memories and replacing them with thoughts about what she and Ronald could do tonight as she pushed the door to the washroom open just in time to hear a tiny 'rawr'.

A tiny rabbit in a bathrobe stood before one of the smaller sinks, toothpaste foam dripped from her mouth and her paws were lifted to the side of her face as if she was about to leap and attack her own reflection.

A silence descended on the room as Lisa stood in the doorway, staring in shock. The rabbit's body stiffened as she seemed to sense Lisa's presence; her head shuddered round as if it was on some sort of broken spring. The rabbit's large eyes seemed to get even wider as she saw she'd been observed.

A long moment stretched out between the two, broken finally as a drop of the froth fell with an audible splat from the rabbit's mouth to the tiled floor.

Lisa's face was a study in non-expression. She nodded cordially to the mortified rabbit and smoothly made her way over to the larger mammals' showers. She locked the door behind her, placed her toiletries neatly on the table inside, double checked the shower to make sure no-one was inside then suddenly half-collapsed as if she'd suddenly lost all power in her muscles.

She clutched at the wall, struggling to remain standing. It felt like someone had just punched her in the solar plexus with a fist made out of sugar. She couldn't remember ever seeing anything so cute! She struggled to steady her breathing, shocked and impressed she'd managed to restrain herself until she made it to the privacy of the shower; relieved that she didn't seem to have weirded out the rabbit.

It was almost unfair how lucky smaller mammals had it; she didn't begrudge them, she just wished she could be as cute as that rabbit.

Later that week she went back to the store to see their new line of berets. She was sure the one she bought this time suited her.

Judy held her breath as she pressed her ear against the door or her apartment, listening for any sound that indicated there could be someone outside. No doubt word had already gotten about her behaviour in the bathroom; she didn't even really blame Mrs Wallow, who would be able to resist talking about someone acting so stupidly?

The rattling vibrations of the pipes in the floor below, the faint conversation of the beavers in the apartment above and the lack of any footsteps in the hallway outside greeted her.

 _Now or never._

She quietly opened the door and slipped through, zipping down the hallway as quickly and quietly as she could, doing her best to avoid the floorboards she knew creaked.

This was probably a good thing, right? She finally had a reason to look for a new place. She just wished that every momentous occasion in her life didn't seem to revolve around her making a total fool of herself.

She made her way past the gauntlet of doors and sped down the stairs; she heard the click of a door handle behind her but she was already half-way down to the next floor and away.

She sighed in relief as she made her way out onto the street and turned towards the train station. The last light of the day was faintly illuminating the streets; it was that period of time between the rush home from work and the rush out to enjoy yourself and the streets were as quiet as they ever got in the city.

She was happier than ever that it was the last shift of the week; after the incident in the bathroom she was more determined than ever to go out with Nick and get comfortably, forgetfully drunk.

Maybe if she told him what had happened he'd let her crash at his place, surely an embarrassing story was worth her getting a look at where he called home. But of the two options she couldn't decide whether having Nick know what she had been doing or having her neighbours throw pitying looks at the dumb bunny was worse; she decided to let drunk Judy handle that decision, she was just too weary to give it any more thought right now.

She felt a mixture of relief and guilt that the Ishkar case was getting closed. At least she wouldn't have it hanging over her head through the weekend.

She soon made her way to the station platform and within minutes had squeezed onto a packed train heading for the centre of the city. It was always a strange crowd at this time; a mix of tourists, overeager clubbers, and unfortunates like her who worked the strange hours.

She found a strap to cling to and let the shifting of the train rock her back and forth as she blankly stared at nothing. Her mind began to wander, steadily avoid events of the last 24 hours and trying to find something warm and fuzzy to console her.

Sitting opposite her was a mix of teenagers of all species, sizes and genders; something fizzled in her memory, the strange group reminded her of an old cartoon her sister Sally used to watch. Just some silly adventure with a pair of bunnies and their eclectic mix of friends, trying to defeat some evil organisation with the power of friendship. It had been pretty popular in the Burrows for having a pair of bunny leads, but had also created a minor moral panic when a couple of predators had joined the group after being shown 'the error of their ways'.

Thinking back on it now Judy found her memories of how it portrayed the predators of it a little uncomfortable, even if it was trying its best to be inclusive.

Her dad had heard about the protests and, dad being dad, had gotten terrified that Sally was going to go out and try to make friends with a wolf and never be heard from again. He'd never go so far as to outright ban his kids from watching something they enjoyed but she'd eventually stopped watching after weeks of him wandering around the warren, a nervous wreck, ambushing her with hugs and tearful declarations about how much he loved her.

She thought she remembered there'd been a fox in the show too; a kind of goofy comic relief character that was so hopelessly smitten with every female on the good guys side that he had 'reformed' if only so he could follow them around like a big kid, constantly shot down by his targets of affection. He was completely unlike Nick except for his species, but she couldn't help but being reminded of her fox for some reason.

Well, she supposed Nick had a good sense of humor too.

Yep. That was probably it.

She caught a flash of red and blue out of the corner of her eye for a moment thought it was Nick, doing a double take when she focused and realized _it was_ her partner; she had been completely unaware of when he had joined her. The fox was gripping the strap next to hers as if it was the only thing holding him up, his eyes half closed and mouth stretched open in a yawn.

"Nick!"

Her surprised exclamation caused him to startle awake; a general shifting swept through the carriage as passengers turned to see what had interrupted the repetitive mechanical rattling of the train. He somehow managed to choke on absolutely nothing as his yawn was interrupted and turned into a series of hacking coughs that had the entire carriage staring at the two police officers.

Well awake now, his eyes slightly teary, the fox looked down at her with a mixture of embarrassment and exasperation.

"What?" he hissed quietly, trying to ignore the half-bored, half-interested crowd.

"Uh, I didn't see you there," she replied, smiling back at him.

His now deadpan expression seemed to convey that this would be brought up later when a train full of strangers weren't around. The look tickled Judy; the fox didn't mind being the centre of attention, but it had to be on his terms. Once again, her friend had somehow put her in a good mood just by being there. They went back to standing together in silence as the crowd's attention shifted back to their own internal worlds.

They soon arrived at Central Station and were carried off the train along with a flow of other passengers. As the packed crowd escaped the platform it burst apart and the two cops began the short walk towards the station.

Streetlights flickered on as the twilight of the evening began to fade in earnest and the night settled in. Nick glanced down at his partner who seemed to be constantly stopping herself from bouncing on ahead to the station, instead matching his leisurely pace.

He'd been genuinely shocked on the train when she'd yelled his name; he hadn't even known he'd been standing next to her until then, his sleepy mind still refusing to wake and his body somehow finding her on auto-pilot.

"So, got any plans for after the shift?" inquired Judy.

He shrugged, "Sleep, probably," not having given it much thought.

She rolled her eyes theatrically and gave him a playful push on the arm, "What are you? 80? It's the end of your first week! We've gotta go and do _something._ Nick Wilde does not just go home to bed."

He tried to send her a withering look, but the hope and excitement on her face shot down that attempt before it even had a chance. Her enthusiasm was nothing if not infectious.

"Okay, okay, fine; what do you have planned?" He smiled back at her, knowing how futile it was to fight the bunny that had once blackmailed him so thoroughly. She'd get what she wanted.

'Well, the funny thing about that-" started Judy, but Nick heard no more than that as a furious roaring suddenly filled his ears. Judy continued talking as if nothing was wrong, but as they'd turned into the square and came within sight of the station he suddenly felt an enormous pressure pressing down on him as if a mountain was about to crush him.

He could count the times on one paw he'd felt this sensation before. When he'd gotten trapped in the warehouse after the three-card scam gone wrong; when he'd gotten word that Big knew where he'd gotten the rug; and when he felt one of Manchas' teeth brush against his tail during their flight through Rainforest.

His life was hanging by a thread.

The precinct loomed ahead of him like some sort of mausoleum. If he dared to enter, he'd never leave.

 _Oh, right._

 _Bogo._


	7. Chapter 7

McHorn unpacked his case carefully, as always, placing the dark red cloth onto the table neatly. He took out the battered can of his homemade polish, unscrewed it and sniffed at the dark mixture inside, then placed it next to the neatly folded cloth on the table. He lifted the cloth and dabbed at the polish lightly.

He began to polish his horn.

The usual discussion began.

"He never does it on the day shift."

"Or whenever there's another rhino around."

"He should have the decency to do it in his own home!"

"Should he- does he need to be discreet about it?"

"Someone needs to say something."

"What? To Bogo?"

"Are you kidding? No, just… someone needs to let him know how weird it looks."

Judy and Nick sat amongst a huddle of other officers in the briefing room, everyone sitting in mortified fascination as the rhino went through his usual routine. Their expressions were a mix of curiosity, horror and confused arousal. No-one had any clue if what he was doing was inappropriate, but the care and pleasure the rhino took as he buffed his horn seemed to go beyond simple grooming into something much seedier.

Francine stared intently as the cloth polished his horn to a glossy finish, unable to tear her eyes away. Snarlof, in contrast, was glaring straight ahead and pretending he was completely unaware of the rhino, betrayed by a flicker of his eyes every so often as he stole glances at the show. Delgato leant casually on the desk, his chin in his hand as he watched the meticulous actions of the rhino, his eyes narrowed in lazy contemplation; each _swish-swish_ of the cloth was already well ingrained in minds of every cop watching.

Nick turned to Judy, 'You guys are unbelievably weird.'

Judy's eyes reflected the furious movements of McHorn, unable to tear herself away from the sight, as she responded out of the side of her mouth, 'You should hear what they say about you.'

A few of the officer huddled together with them muttered a quiet chant to Nick, 'One of us, one of us.'

"I think it's kind of hot," admitted Francine, her eyes still fixed on the rhino across the room.

"Francine!" gasped Snarlof indignantly, he couldn't have looked more appalled if the elephant had held him down and spat directly into his mouth.

The McHorn Routine had been discussed quietly among the night shift for weeks, ever since the rhino had asked to be moved to the shift, but no-one had come to any firm conclusion on whether the rhino was just grooming himself or was doing something questionably indecent. Everyone could talk _to_ rhinos, and everyone could talk _about_ rhinos. But talking _to_ rhinos _about_ rhinos was where they all suddenly got embarrassed. Especially when it was about their horns; after all, everyone knew what they said about rhinos.

"Just look it up on your phone, there's gotta be somewhere that talks about this kind of stuff." Suggested one of the many wolves in the precinct.

"Me? Not a chance. Who knows what that might bring up; my wife checks my search history and once you search for this stuff they get you on a list and never stop sending you stuff."

"Oh yeah? How do you know that?"

The wolf became increasingly quiet as he mumbled an excuse the no-one paid any attention to; everyone was making a mental note to clear out their own search history. Not that they had anything to be _ashamed of!_ It was just, uh, just to be safe.

Right.

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone tried to avoid anyone else's gaze.

"You need to go and talk to him, Wilde," said Fangmeyer.

"Me? I'm not talking to him, I barely know the guy; any of you would be better."

Delgato straightened up in his chair and turned to face Nick with a stoic expression. "You're an alright guy, Wilde, but we've cut you a lot slack because Hopps just wouldn't shut up about you. Now there are rookie jobs and you're the rookie; go and tell McHorn to stop doing whatever the hell it is he's doing.'

His tone wasn't aggressive, but it clearly said that it wouldn't take no for an answer. Judy shrunk down a little in the chair beside Nick as her part in his treatment was mentioned and the officers surrounding them exchanged grins and chuckles.

Nick had his mouth half open in an automatic protest but reined it back in as he realised how futile it would be. Just like any gang, the bad jobs trickled down and Nick knew the difference between paying your dues and standing your ground. He wouldn't let anyone push him around, but he _did_ want to be accepted by these people; if that meant talking to a rhino about his weird public horn-buffing kink, so be it. There'd be a new rookie eventually.

He slid off the chair and made his way over to the rhino, throwing a glare over his shoulder at the watching crowd that they patently ignored.

"I mean, come on, look at the shine he's gotten on that thing."

" _Francine!"_

Nick had been hoping that his unnaturally good luck would be on his side today, but this certainly didn't bode well. He still hadn't run into the chief yet and had almost convinced himself that the overwhelming sensation of terror he'd felt outside the precinct had been an overreaction; the buffalo probably had the chance to vent most of his frustrations on Wolford, Nick would probably get off with a bit of a reprimand.

 _They have a word for people as detached from reality as you._

 _Shut up,_ he told himself as he found himself beside McHorn, the rhinoceros not so much as sparing the fox a glance as he continued with his ritual.

 _So how the hell am I supposed to ask him about this?_

"Hey McHorn, _night shift_ , am I right?"

He considered giving the rhino a playful nudge with his elbow, but realized he wouldn't be able to reach any higher than his knee, so he settled with a shrug he hoped suggested that they were all in this together.

McHorn didn't so much as glance at the fox, merely continuing to buff his horn.

"Go away, Wilde."

"Sure thing, buddy, sure thing; it's just, the guys were wondering-"

"Ain't gonna talk about it. Ain't gonna stop. Just get used to it."

Nick still had a paw raised and mouth open as if to argue and quickly realised there was no point. The rhino spoke with the stubbornness of a rock wall; he wouldn't be convinced. Nick nodded and took a step away before pausing and shifting his weight back towards the rhino again.

"Uh, just one thing: are we _supposed_ to be embarrassed?"

McHorn finally finished his buffing and pulled the cloth from his horn and flicked it with a fluttering crack into the silence of the briefing room, clearly happy with his work. He finally shifted his gaze to the small fox beside him, gave him a wide grin and shrugged.

"Yeah, so, he's not going to stop," said Nick to the eagerly awaiting crowd when he got back over to them, eliciting a cacophony of groans, chuckles and sighs. The huddle broke up as the officers made their way to their own seats, the topic of conversation finally moving on. Money was exchanged between several officers as a series of wagers Nick would rather not know the details of were concluded. A few pairs of eyes followed Francine as she made her way over to chat with McHorn.

Nick settled back into the chair beside Judy, still a little bemused by the whole situation. "Y'know, if you told me a year ago I'd be gossiping with a roomful of cops about a rhino buffing his horn I _might_ have believed you, but I certainly wouldn't have managed it happening this way."

"Feels good, right? I still need to have you over for that Cop Movie Marathon I have planned; you've been putting it off for months," Judy added a little reproachfully. "You'll see that this is just all part of the cop lifestyle, it'll make sense then."

Nick threw her a sardonic look, then flicked his gaze back over to McHorn who had just finished putting away his kit, "Exactly what sort of movies do you have, Carrots? Should I bring a chaperone?"

Her face scrunched up in a disapproving pout, her ears pressed down her back and gave him another slight jab on the arm, something that was becoming all too familiar and (he had to admit) all too deserved.

The door at the side of the room opened and Higgins made his was inside, calling them all to attention. There was a brief flurry of activity as everyone settled down as Bogo entered the briefing room.

He made his was over to the lectern, dumping an ungodly amount of paperwork on the surface and briefly skimming the first few pages before pulling out a single sheet.

He looked up and directly into Nick's eyes, the first acknowledgement that there was anyone else in the room, or even the whole station.

"Delgato, Snarlof, you're on your usual route through Tundratown tonight; be alert, there's a joint benefit being held by the Herd and Lionheart campaigns, raising money for the Zootopian Orphan Trust; you know how punchy these folks get when someone tries to out-donate them."

The entire time he spoke his eyes never left Nick's. The buffalo didn't even seem to blink and Nick was too terrified to, certain the chief would pounce on that brief moment between his eyes flickering closed and open again.

Bogo continued on his briefing, never looking at another officer to make sure his orders were acknowledged or even consulting his rota of officers for the night to see who was doing what, seeming to arrange the entire shift through memory. As the briefing went on, the rest of the cops began to realize something was wrong. Some were intelligent, some were dumb, some were average, but that wasn't really important to a cop; what they relied on was their instincts that told them when things were wrong.

The already quiet room became more quiet as everyone tried to avoid drawing the chief's attention. As names were called up, they scurried up to receive the file and quickly made their way out of the room; a few even spared looks of sympathy for Nick as they walked past the desk.

Finally, they were alone in the room. The rabbit, the fox and the buffalo.

"Wilde." The chief inhaled the entire room. "Nick Wilde, officer of the law." The blast of air from the bison raised Nick's eyelids and sent Judy's ears fluttering.

(Metaphorically, of course, but the chief had the unnerving ability of making you feel the full force of a metaphor whether you liked it or not.)

Nick now knew the feeling of terror he had felt outside the precinct was indeed silly.

He had been nowhere near scared enough.

He'd passed through that level of worry that involved gibbering, screaming and tearing at your fur; he'd arrived at that odd level beyond terror, a strange sort of twitchy normality.

"Yes, sir?" breathed Nick, one of the last ones he would ever take. It was exquisite; how had he never noticed before?

"People find you charming, Wilde."

"Yes they do, chief," there went another one. He hated to see it go.

"Specific people," said the bison.

"Everyone's specific, sir," quipped the fox in a startlingly daring attempt at suicide.

The bull smiled and denied him such an easy release, "Specific people, indeed, Wilde. _Specific people_. Specific people also happen to include every member of the Civilian Review Committee who were so charmed by Officer Wilde's demonstration of what a real police line-up might entail."

Wilde felt his spirit fighting its way back into his body, feeling a desperate strand of hope.

"The Civilian Review Committee," continued Bogo, "who was desperate for an officer to liaise with on _any_ AND _all_ matters which involve interaction with the department. They were so happy to hear you volunteered, Wilde."

"I'm so glad you received my request for the position, sir, I was worried it hadn't been passed on to you," Nick heard his mouth say, bypassing the brain entirely; it was desperate for survival and had the most practice in keeping him alive anyway. The rest of his body watched on in awed silence. The kidney's in particular were very impressed and wished they didn't have all the go-betweens between them and the mouth.

(The other organs vetoed this burgeoning romance in favour of keeping the kidney's well away from the mouth or, indeed, any areas it might suddenly spill out. That didn't sound healthy.)

The thud of documents on the desk woke Nick from his hallucination. He clutched at them like a drowning fox on flotsam.

"I'm proud of you, Nick. Proud," stated Bogo and Nick felt the overwhelming love and fear that one felt for any god within his temple.

"Hopps, good catch on the Plaza case," said the chief in his normal gruff briefing voice. "Here's the file; Jones wants to talk to you too."

Judy stared at Bogo blankly, almost unaware of what the buffalo had said; she had the strange sensation that some sort of brutal attack had just happened here, but she just couldn't tell what it was. A psychological mugging, perhaps. She blinked as she realised a file had been dropped into her paws. When she looked back up she saw Bogo's figure disappearing through the doorway.

She looked back down at the file for a dazed moment then let out a woop of triumph and jumped off the chair and under the desk, darting towards the door. Nick stumbled after her in a daze, a few papers sliding from his collection as his mind reassured him that he had in fact survived the encounter.

Judy zipped across the foyer towards the administration section, her nose buried deeply in the case file and oblivious to the world outside; a few of the larger cops stumbled as they struggled to avoid crushing the bunny as she almost literally walked underfoot, throwing mild curses after her that bounced of the shell of her utter focus.

Nick carefully balanced the large stack of documents as he followed his partner to their desks. The pile was huge and he doubted anyone expected him to actually read it, well, Bogo probably did but the worst was over; now that he was out of the presence of Bogo his usual instincts kicked in and he already was working of a series of plans to offload this new responsibility. It felt like a small part of him was desperately trying to warn _to not do this_ , but he dutifully ignored it.

( _They_ _say_ that new mothers have to block out the trauma of childbirth in order to be able to even consider doing it a second time. A thousand generations of mothers had nothing on Nick's ability to ignore those parts of reality that just didn't fit his mind-set. This probably wasn't healthy.)

When he arrived at their desks, Judy was already pouring through the case file, a wide grin on her face as she practically vibrated in excitement. He heaved the mountain of paper and cardboard onto his own workspace and watched as they slowly collapsed and spread across the surface in a tiny avalanche. He stared for a long moment, considering briefly how long it would take to clean before deciding that he'd never needed the desk anyway and writing it off.

He moved behind Judy and peered over her shoulder to examine the file alongside her. She whipped her head around as she felt his presence, whacking against his snout as he received a faceful of bunny forehead that sent him into a daze; the bunny, in contrast, was so excited that she hardly noticed.

"The cameras, Nick!"

Clutching the side of his jaw he sidled back up to the side of the bunny, making sure he wasn't about to get another smack to the face as he mumbled, "The what?"

"The security footage is missing! From midnight on it's just not there! And not just last night," she flicked through several of the pages, elated, "Nearly every night for the last few weeks has blocks of footage missing."

She slammed the folder onto the desk and looked up, a smug smile spreading across her face as her nose twitched in excitement. "I _knew_ there was something strange going on." She spun in her chair to face Nick again **,** causing him to flinch but managing to avoid a collision this time.

"Do they know what happened to it?" he asked.

She took another glance at file, "Nope."

"Can they recover any of it?"

Again, she glanced at the file, "No, probably not."

"Can they tell us anything useful?" pleaded Nick, seeing their weekend quickly vanishing.

"Nope! Well, not yet, they're still working on the system. Come on!" She threw the file at Nick and leapt out of her chair and began to race for the doorway.

"Where?" he called after her, trying not to drop the file.

"Jones wants to talk to us!"

Nick flicked through the file as he followed Judy slowly, in no hurry to meet with the weird coroner boar again. As Judy had said, there was footage missing from the office's security for weeks. All late at night and lasting anywhere from thirty minutes up to a couple of hours. It was something, but the IT guys hadn't been able to confirm who had tampered with the footage or how they had done it. They were still working on it but they apparently weren't enthusiastic about finding anything.The report suggested it was cleanly managed operation.

When he finally arrived at the doors to the morgue, he was surprised to find the rabbit dithering outside. Arriving beside her, Nick raised a questioning brow as the bunny looked up at him, a hint of worry in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She nodded at the door and waggled her ears slightly. He didn't think she realised how silly she looked doing that. Silly in a good way though. Cute, he supposed, though he knew better than to throw that word around casually. He refocused on the door and perked his ears, trying to hear what was throwing off his bulldozer of a partner.

All he could make out was the faint sound of a conversation; it was too quiet for him to hear the details, but it sounded friendly enough to him. Again, he turned to take his cue from Judy; seeing him look to her, she sighed and pushed her way into the coolness of the morgue.

As Nick followed her inside the sounds of conversation abruptly halted. Jones and Michaels had been sitting on two stools around the body of a capybara, their lunchboxes on either side of the corpse as they seemed to be enjoying a working lunch.

Michaels looked over his shoulder at the two of them standing in the door and then turned back to mutter something to Jones. While inaudible to Nick, it made Judy wince slightly.

The pale ermine cleaned his things and made his way to the door and past them without a word. It wasn't that he was seemed particularly hostile to either him or Judy, he merely acted like they didn't exist. Nick's stare followed the little mammal as he walked down the corridor, wondering what Michaels' problem was before his attention was pulled back into the morgue.

"Bogo said you wanted to see us. What's the _corpus delicti?"_ asked Judy eagerly, already bouncing back with her trademark enthusiasm.

Jones looked at his half eaten sandwich, "Tomatoes, mostly."

" _Arthur_ ," whined Judy.

"Don't try to be so fancy then, girl."

The boar's face was split by a grin and he took another large bite before putting his lunch away and motioning for them to follow him as he went deeper into the room, chewing as he went.

Nick had no idea how the boar could stand eating in this place. The smell of disinfectant and decay alone was making him twitchy.

"I'm not sure if it had anything to do with this particular case," continued the boar around his sandwich, "But it was strange enough that I thought you'd get a kick out of it, Hopps."

Like all multi-species facilities, the morgue towered over Nick and Judy as it sought to accommodate all sizes. Examination rooms were furnished in plastics and stainless steel which combined with the harsh lighting to give Nick a headache. He managed to catch glimpses of bodies laid out in side-rooms or behind curtains, lending the stark cleanliness of the morgue an aura of eeriness.

They passed the body of an elephant laid out on a reinforced steel examination table, his chest already open but the body was unattended. Nick almost screamed in terror as some unholy creature emerged from inside the elephant's chest cavity. He was milliseconds away from grabbing Judy and fleeing to the armoury to stock up on weapons when the creature gave him a cordial nod and clambered down the side of the body, shaking a few red blobs from its feet as it made its way over to a small notepad and started to jot down something.

Nick's eye readjusted and realised that it was groundhog wearing some sort of mix between a wetsuit and a hazmat suit. The thought that this was a daily job for her terrified Nick even more than the thought of some unknown creature climbing out of bodies. This was just a regular mammal and she climbed _into_ bodies on a daily basis.

High pitched laughter at an unheard joke erupted from a door just to the right of Nick and he found himself speeding up, pressing close to Judy as his eyes darted about warily.

 _Poor Judy, she's probably terrified._

He looked down at the bunny, only to find her looking up at him with a confused and irritated expression that asked, "What the heck are you doing?" (Not many people can manage this look; a "What the _hell_ are you doing?" look is easy, but Judy somehow managed to remove even that mild profanity from her gaze.) Despite the look, she didn't push him away, merely rolling her eyes and continuing after Jones.

 _See, she's a bundle of nerves,_ thought Nick as he looked around to make sure no-one was creeping up on him. He shuffled behind her bravely.

Jones finally ushered them into an examination room of his own; the body on his table was covered with a sheet, but it was clearly the wolf they'd met last night. The boar fussed around for a moment, searching fruitlessly until he lifted the sheet and grabbed a clipboard that was resting on Ishkar. Nick caught a brief glimpse of the wolf before the sheet was lowered again; he was just as dead as he had been in the Plaza, but it looked like Jones had at least _tried_ to clean him up a bit now that his examination was finished.

"So, our friend Charlie here went out the window pretty easily, no signs of a struggle, all damage seems to have been done by the fall…"

He ran through a litany of checks, each time ruling out anything that could be responsible for a deeper investigation. Judy's foot began to beat out a drum on the floor as she struggled not to grab the clipboard out of the boar's hands.

Jones looked up briefly at the sound and smiled, but refused to move any faster as he ran through a litany of toxicology reports that meant little to Nick, he only knew that no red flags were being raised.

"I'm waiting on a few more toxicology reports, but we've ruled out the standard stuff and I'm not expecting much from them. But the one weird thing," stated the boar, drawing it out theatrically as he moved towards the wall, "was that Mr Ishkar seemed to have quite an interesting history." He flipped a switch and a light hummed to life, illuminating a series of x-rays all along the wall. Judy and Nick moved closer to study them.

"I've seen a couple of folks like this in the past, but they usually don't work in an office environment."

Judy stared at the x-rays and seemed to be making as much sense of them as Nick was.

"What is it?' she asked as she turned to face the boar.

"This wolf has had nearly every bone in his body broken. Well, not _every_ bone, but easily over half and several of them multiple times. Some are kind of recent, some go back years, decades, even."

Judy and Nick exchanged a look of discomfort.

"You think it could have been abuse?" asked Judy.

The boar shrugged, "A lot of it would have happened when he was a teenager, sure. But it's been going on a lot more recently than that."

"Doesn't rule it out, though, does it?" continued Nick sombrely.

"Sure, I guess," conceded the boar, "But I don't think Ishkar was the kind of guy you could push around easily. If he wasn't dead, I'd say he'd be one of the healthiest people I've ever met. Organs were top-notch, musculature was hard to beat. That, and…"

"And?"

"Well, I'd say that he knew how to fight. There's a few clues we can pick up in this kind of examination; toughened knuckles, sharpened claws, _excellent_ care for the incisors. I'd say the wolf knew how to handle himself."

"But you say some of the injuries were recent, so maybe he wasn't that good?" suggested Nick.

"Or maybe he was just up against people who were better?' considered Judy.

The boar shrugged again, "I'll leave that up to you two to work out. One other thing though, with this number of breaks it's pretty unlikely that all of them are going to heal right. But this guy…"

Jones paused to scan the numerous x-rays again.

"He may have gotten the crap kicked out of him on a daily basis, but at least whoever was taking care of him did a good job. It's rare to see such consistently good patchwork."

Nick and Judy left Jones with Ishkar as they made their way back out of the morgue, Nick's previous fears dampened by the new mystery presented to them.

"So, an office worker with the body of a brawler and the bones of an abuse victim…" Judy worried at her bottom lip as she mulled the new facts over.

"That apparently goes to his office in the middle of the night when the cameras mysteriously shut off," added Nick.

"Looks like we'll need to get more of a background on who exactly Ishkar was."

"Back to see the Herds? They weren't the most helpful last chance we had."

"No, I think we have someone who might have a better idea of what he was up to last night." Judy took out her phone and pawed through it before holding it up to Nick.

Nick groaned as he stared at the picture from Ishkar's wallet; perhaps one of the last people to see the wolf alive, Hadley the liger.

 _A hybrid._


	8. Chapter 8

The windscreen wipers swept back and forth with a steady beat, doing their best to keep Judy's view clear as they made their way through Rainforest towards the Docks. The Maranon River cut through the district, wide with a strong flow; it began deeper in the district as a product of a hundred smaller little rivulets that joined together into a genuine force of nature within the district, only to split again as it reached the shore, dividing into a hundred different rivers that cut the land into hundreds of little islands.

Riverside living had become increasingly popular in the last decade or so and every inch of real estate along the river had been developed, demolished and redeveloped in an effort to cram more and more accommodation in at higher and higher prices. By the time the river hit the bay the property density had been pushed to the limits and even the most generous bribes to the Planning Office couldn't squeeze in another studio apartment. Undeterred, the construction companies had started moving along the coast, tearing down the old warehouses and factories that had helped build Zootopia, erecting entire new neighborhoods in their place.

Further south, the Marshlands had finally finished the Water Treatment Plant and were now pulling in thousands of gallons of water from the bay daily to flood the southern plains to begin their transformation into more swampland. Most of the Marshlands had been located on the far side of the bay, but after a decades long struggle they had finally received approval to begin expanding into the city proper.

Sandwiched between these two districts were the ever shrinking Docks. Ships that had carried flocks and packs of immigrants to the city in days' past were now replaced by the ultra-modern monorail system; the independent captains of trader ships that ensured a constant flow of supplies to the city in younger days had been replaced by monstrous tankers too big to navigate the shallow bay of the city. They disgorged their goods further up the coast and released fleets of trucks to swarm the city with their imports.

The Docks were in the awkward transition any old area of a growing city between having an actual function and getting revitalized as a historically cultural area. Unfortunately, that transition involved a lot of unemployment, abandoned buildings and a dramatic uptick in crime. The Dockworkers Union was still based out of the area, but it was more out of a sense of tradition than any real desire to remain there.

Judy cut through a gap between two towering delivery trucks in a move that seemed to scrape the paint from their cruiser and saved them an entire half a second in travel time. The rabbit's sense of spatial awareness was second to none. She may not always know who exactly she was supposed to be, but at least she always knew exactly where she was.

Nick sighed wearily as Judy zipped around a minivan that had suddenly dropped well below the speed limit as soon as their cruiser had appeared in its rearview mirror

He sighed louder when she ignored him.

"What?" she let loose in an expressionless voice, knowing that any conversation that started with a sigh like that wasn't really worth her time but also knowing the longer she ignored him, the more persistently nonchalant the fox would be.

"I'm kind of having second thoughts about this whole cop thing, Carrots."

The cruiser's engine screeched in protest as Judy slipped into the wrong gear, the entire car shuddering and shaking.

" _What?"_ she repeated, her voice now a mixture of disbelief and wariness, not entire sure where the fox was going with this.

"I'm just not sure that this whole thing is really for me."

She fought not to frown at the fox, knowing he was just trying to push her buttons and unwilling to reward this joke with any type of reaction. Sometimes she privately wondered if the fox had actually taken the job just to annoy her, if only in part. It didn't seem likely but she couldn't rule the idea out when Nick was concerned.

"Okay, so there's none in the precinct, I can live with that; cops are a pretty stoic bunch, I get it. But you'd think at least one of the medical examiners would be prepared."

"What are you talking about?" asked Judy, now thoroughly baffled.

"I just feel I've been lied to; you see all these TV shows, all these movies, and it's happening all over the place and I just feel so disillusioned. How do you manage?"

"Nick, you're making even less sense than usual. Manage what? What's missing?"

"All the lighthearted flirting banter, of course!"

A silence filled the car, the drum of the rain on roof suddenly seeming even louder. Judy struggled not to look at the fox, already catching his almost entirely sincere expression (with just a hint of eager mischievousness glinting in his eye) out of the corner of her vision.

"I dunno, you had a perfect chance with McHorn earlier, I thought," she casually ventured.

Nick threw himself back in the seat in exasperation, refusing to give up on his bit, "I know! And that's how desperate I am! But he blew me off just like that!" He snapped his fingers. "I'm charming, and now I have this smart uniform people should be lining up to flirt. I just don't get it. What do you think?"

"I think you're probably the dumbest fox I know."

"Oh, and how many foxes do you _really_ know, Carrots? Be honest. And you can't include any arrests! That doesn't count."

"Two. And Gideon might be a great baker, but let's just say he has to be careful not to get outwitted by his baking yeast."

"I'm not that bad, am I?"

Judy pitied him with a smile, "Sometimes I wonder, really."

"Well, with the cops and the support staff out of the question," continued Nick, unwilling to let the joke die, "I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes out for some nefarious vixen crook who needs to be taught how good it feels to reform."

"I'd be more worried you'd teach her the best way to con someone."

"Mentor her how doing good and keeping order is just the ultimate thrill," continued Nick idly, "Maybe let her help out on a few cases, seduce her with long study sessions where we can review-"

Judy suddenly had an awful flash of premonition, _"Don't say it!"_

"-the penal code," leered the fox, and few mammals could leer like a fox.

"Ugh, you're disgusting," grinned Judy. It wasn't like she hadn't told jokes a hundred times worse, a few that have even managed to stun the fox a little. Growing up in a large family meant there was always an aunt, uncle, elder brother or sister who were ready and eager to pollute younger minds with the dirtiest jokes imaginable.

Uncle Pete had a solid five minutes on the differences on bucks and does that he's do at every family gathering after about two beers. It even had hand gestures. It infuriated her dad and had taught teenage Judy and her siblings everything they thought they needed to know about the other sex (that they later had to completely unlearn when they realized there was a reason Uncle Pete was on his fourth marriage).

Nick continued to ramble, seeming to talk as much to hear the sound of his own voice as any other reason. Judy tried to picture the non-existent object of Nick's affection and already found herself pitying the poor vixen. No-one deserved to have Nick Wilde inflicted on them in such a way.

She thought back on their own late night's getting him ready for the academy and had little trouble imagining the awful innuendo and charmingly terrible flirtations the fox would no doubt employ. Though the fox could be a real idiot at times, he was inarguably charming; there was no doubt in her mind that if he wanted to he could be quite the romantic.

His voice had died away and her eyes flicked over to her partner who had gone back to staring out the window idly.

 _Probably, anyway._

She veered off the highway, descending onto a well-worn slip road leading them down to the Docks. Her eyes flicked over to Nick again.

 _Maybe._

Her eyes narrowed as she studied the fox.

 _Right?_

Her brow furrowed as she looked at his vacant stare at nothing.

 _What am I thinking? This idiot couldn't… he couldn't seduce someone that's throwing themselves at him!_

An anger rose in her unbidden and she had no idea why. All of a sudden Nick's stupid grins and knowing looks irritated her. She glared over at the fox and noticed that his usually sleek fur was still scruffy from the night before, her gaze followed it up his neck and along the lines of his jaw.

Suddenly, the annoyance at the fox that had sprung up out of nowhere was just as rapidly replaced by another entirely odd and unexpected sensation.

Embarrassment.

She felt a flush shiver through her body and was positive that her ears had turned a noticeably darker shade of pink; she dipped them quickly against her head, still confused and unsure at what had suddenly come over her.

 _What business is it of mine anyway? Nick's love life is his own to take care of, and I'm sure he's fine._

She nodded to herself, a mix of confusion, embarrassment and gloom still roiling around in her head.

 _Anyway, shouldn't you be more worried about yourself, Judy?_ teased an unwelcome part of her brain. _I'm much more worried that you'll be-_

"So, you really think Hadley will be here?" she asked, almost confident that her voice sounded normal.

Nick turned away from the cramped streets of the Docks back to face her, seemingly oblivious that his partner appeared to be going crazy. "It's as good a place as any to start, they all gather at this bar; most of them, anyway. If he's not there I'm sure someone can point us in the right direction."

" _They_ being hybrids," clarified Judy in not-quite-a-question.

You didn't see them much in Bunnyburrow. There was an elderly mule who lived on the outskirts of town, but he wasn't very social. You might see him once every couple of months.

It's not like they were something new. Hybrids had been around forever but it wasn't until recently that their community had stepped out of the shadows, especially as interspecies relationships had started to become more widely accepted.

The problem was, even if people no longer believed the same old superstitions (mostly), the prejudice against hybrids had been ingrained in mammals for so long that there was still a general distrust and dislike of them. Weakened bodies, stillborn births and sterility were all explained and somewhat mitigated by modern science, but it did little for hybrids traditional treatment by the wider community and it probably wouldn't change anytime soon. Some just saw them as unnatural and couldn't or wouldn't be convinced otherwise.

"Yep," he replied, and then turned to face her, "You need to be careful though, Judy, these folks can get pretty touchy pretty quick."

He used her first name, which surprised her as she hadn't thought that the place they were heading was so dangerous. She was pretty sure the fox hadn't realized but he'd only use her name when he was being serious, which meant he rarely did. It felt reassuring to be able to read the fox a little. She nodded.

Judy navigated through the dark maze of warehouses, taking directions from Nick as there seemed to be no other indication of where they should be going. Not any that she could interpret, anyway. There were few streetlights and they had been placed seemingly haphazardly, with no real thought on a pattern or desire to light the district. They were little islands of light in the darkness, occasionally with a marooned occupant or two that turned to watch as the cruiser crept past.

After a few minutes squeezing through alleys that really shouldn't have been able to accommodate the car, Nick told Judy to pull over. As she turned off the engine she looked around, wondering why they were stopping here.

They were half-way down a long alley with warehouses towering above them on either side. None of them seemed to have been built to any one standard, with some looking as if they had been built over generations as if they were added to as needed. She saw Nick was looking out his window again and followed his gaze.

She never would have seen it if Nick hadn't pointed it out to her. Sandwiched between two of the warehouses was a shack, and Judy felt generous even calling it that. She had trouble recognizing it as a building because it certainly hadn't been built; what had clearly happened was that someone had dumped a large number of unneeded planks and bricks between the two buildings and someone had just gone to live in the pile one day.

There was what you might be able to call a door and above what could possibly be a sign proclaiming the building as 'Tiers' (well, not _proclaiming_ as such, more timidly admitting). A buzzing neon word shone in the window through several layers of grime, letting anyone passing know that they were open.

"Here we are," said Nick.

They were still some way from the bay, but the harshness of the saltwater still permeated the air. It was one of the main reasons Nick had avoided the area. There was a lot of money to be made here, for the right-minded sort of fox, but even at his most desperate times he'd never sunk that low. In short exposures it wasn't so bad, but spend a few months hanging around the docks and your fur would be ruined for life; it didn't matter what protective clothing you wore or what conditioner you washed with, if you weren't built for the environment you just wouldn't last.

He hopped down from the cruiser and waited as Judy locked it and came around to join him as he watched the building, his eyes darting up and down the alley to make sure no-one was approaching.

"Okay, so, if this Hadley guy is here we've got to treat him with kit gloves. If he wants to talk, good. But if he isn't interested we're just going to have to walk away, maybe try and track him down somewhere else."

Judy's brow furrowed as she heard this. "Nick, he's probably one of the last people to see Ishkar alive; we've got to get some answers."

"I know, I know," he soothed, hearing the dutiful tone in the bunny's voice and wincing, "But these folks are jumpy. I mean, look at where they hang out." He gestured to the desolate alleyway.

"Nobody likes them and they don't like anybody. Especially cops."

"Why _especially_ cops?" she asked.

Nick gave her _a Look_ in return. Despite her rocky start, she had been well received in the department, but Precinct One collected the best of the best (in theory, anyway) and there were plenty of other precincts out there that weren't up to the same… standard.

"Oh. Right." She looked a little embarrassed then clenched he fists and nodded to herself in determination, as if psyching herself up to show the hybrids an _amazing_ example of community policing. It was a level of inspiring enthusiasm that made Nick feel a little disorientated.

"Anyway, let's just be careful. Even if he doesn't want to help now, I know a few people who could help us track him down once we have something to go on, so don't worry."

Nick made his way over to the 'bar' and pushed open the door, entering the ramshackle passage separating the inside of the bar and the rest of the world. It had been a long time since he'd been back here and last time he hadn't been wearing a police uniform; he wasn't expecting a warm welcome. He felt Judy moving in closely behind him and felt a little reassured; not that she'd be able to stop a gang of disgruntled mammals mobbing them, but he was strangely sure she'd at least give them pause.

He heard a sharp intake of breath from the rabbit as they pushed their way into the bar proper, it was much larger on the inside than the front suggested. Though still just as narrow, the room veered back and forth, melding with the walls of the warehouses on either side; it eventually curved out of sight, but the volume of the crowd suggested there were many more mammals just around the corner.

Despite the deceptive size of the room, you still couldn't describe it as roomy. The entire place was crammed with enough mammals to make a fire marshal faint in panic. A bar ran along one wall, or rather a series of bars ran along the wall. Every so often the height, style and structure of the bar would change dramatically; a bar for mammals Nick and Judy's size had been seemingly ripped wholesale from some other establishment and had been pushed next to what were clearly just two office desks built for elephants, now repurposed as a bar. This haphazard style followed the flow of the room out of sight.

Hundreds of bottles of all sizes were on shelves behind the bars; some full, some empty, most somewhere in between and all of them unlabeled. Even the shelves looked like they had been put up randomly and as needed with whatever wood could be salvaged around the Docks.

The clientele was just as mismatched as the room. Nick scanned the crowd for a friendly face; he'd even take an unfriendly face at the moment, so long as he recognized them. The quicker they could find Hadley, the quicker they could get out of here.

The mammals were nearly entirely hybrids, looking familiar enough to give that spark of recognition, but different enough to give that sensation of being unbalanced. Felines, canines and equines dominated the room, with a smattering of other species scattered throughout. Even despite the large number of them, there were still few that looked similar to one another; each mammal here almost seemed like the one unique member of their race. A handful of pure-breed animals were spread throughout the room but they were all obviously there with someone else. Those not vouched for were clearly not welcome.

Nick didn't really have an opinion on hybrids one way or the other. He didn't really know any, but it was more due to their insular and wary nature than anything else. You couldn't approach an unknown hybrid without instantly putting them on their guard, not the best mindset for someone you were trying to hustle.

The noise of the conversation was rowdy and difficult to hear anything over so Nick just gave Judy a look to make sure she had followed him. She nodded to him and they began to move inside, scanning the crowd for their target.

When they stood in the doorway no-one had spared them a glance, but as they squeezed through the crowds they began receiving not only first glances, but seconds and thirds. They soon developed into long penetrating stares Nick could feel boring into the back of his skull. He had to restrain himself from rubbing the back of his head, the weight of the stares was so tangible.

He had an overwhelming sense of _déjà vu_ , he was sure he'd been in this situation just last night but he had been on the side of the crowd.

He missed that feeling.

Judy, thankfully, was sticking close to him. He worried sometimes that her bravery overrode her common sense. Well, he _knew_ it did, and often, but it was nice to know that there was a limit to even her foolhardy nature.

As he studied faces he caught plenty of hostile glares, but what surprised him was the number of mammals whose eyes suddenly widened in panic or whose heads ducked swiftly to avoid catching his gaze. He held back a sickly laugh, feeling a little ill. They didn't see a fox and a rabbit that were clearly no threat; they just saw the uniforms. He knew what it was like thinking of the police as a thing to be wary of. Hell, he still did.

 _Probably a lot easier to beat a couple of mean cops than an adorable bunny and handsome fox, too._

He _really_ didn't like that last though that had snuck up on him, especially now the conversation in the bar was starting to die down as more and more people began to focus on the officers. A circle of mammals had formed around them as silence now dominated the room. Judy took a step forward, as if to continue the search, but the impassive wall no longer made way for them; they had taken their stand. Nick placed a paw on her shoulder, stopping her from moving any closer. They were half-way through the room, and could see both ends of the bar through the slim gaps left by the crowd.

The two sides stood motionless, staring at one another.

"What do you want?" rumbled a gruff bull behind the bar. He was hairy and more muscled than even Bogo, but only about half his height; he looked like someone had put the Chief in a car compactor and turned it off half way through.

"Does anyone know a liger called Hadley?" began Judy, "We need-"

Disjointed grumbling filled the room as the crowd surged to life again, clearly not happy at hearing this. The crowd wavered, the circle surrounding Nick and Judy rippling as if about to break and rush them.

Nick tensed as two animals stepped out of the crowd, a hulking dark-furred feline with a mix of darker stripes and spots and a mammal as tall as a horse, but with the faded but tell-tale markings of a zebra. He was surprised when they turned and began to glare at the crowd, warning them off, but his puzzlement was quickly answered when the thud of wood on wood drew everyone's attention to the bar.

The bull had pulled out a club from beneath the bar, and was resting it on the counter, his hoof laying lightly on top of it.

"All breakages will be paid for," he proclaimed as his gaze swept the crowd. A few grumbles and complaints continued, but mostly from the back of the room where the bull couldn't identify them. The crowd relaxed a bit, gaps opening in the wall of mammals, but no-none sat back down.

Judy was now addressing the bull directly, once again adopting that polite, upbeat tone that suited her so well.

"We just need-"

"Don't know any Hadley," interrupted the bull. "Don't know any ligers." He listed these simple statements and sounded oddly unthreatening for a bull with a club and commanding a room full of mammals.

Nick and Judy exchanged a look; his eyes flicked towards the entrance and his head followed in an infinitesimally small nod. It was time to cut their losses and get out of here. He could see the hesitation in her eyes and she turned back to the bull to try one last time.

"One of his friends-"

'If he comes in, I'll tell him the police are looking for him."

This wasn't as helpful a statement as it sounded. No doubt word would get to Hadley within minutes that the police wanted to talk to him (if it hadn't already), but that didn't mean the liger would be coming in for an interview anytime soon.

Judy seemed to have noticed this too and opened her mouth to continue before Nick gripped her arm and squeezed gently. She looked at him for a second then at the crowd and back to him; she nodded and they turned towards the door.

This movement to retreat finally began to drain the tension from the room. They were still watched, but mammals began to make their way back to their tables and booths, muttering discussions began to rise as they discussed the cops.

They were half-way to the door when a louder commotion erupted at the back of the room, a booming laugh and what sounded like a scuffle caused Nick and Judy to turn as one.

A door was swinging closed as a massive laughing liger waded his way through a random assortment of mammals that were all trying to quietly hush the liger and get him back into the bathroom. The feline had the tawny fur of a lion with a few faint stripes running down the back of his head and was larger than any lion or tiger Nick had ever seen, nearing the size of McHorn or Rhinowitz. He wore a pinstripe shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows with the top buttons on his chest left undone, and a pair of neat black slacks. The liger pushed through the crowd easily, grinning at them in slight confusion.

"Let go, Steven, what are you doing?"

He spoke in a rough but friendly voice as he tried shake off a sheepish looking (both literally and figuratively) goat who was clutching at his forearm when he looked up to realize that all eyes in the bar had turned to focus on him. As the crowd had begun to disperse, there now left an empty path leading straight from him to Nick and Judy; their eyes locked with one another.

The liger blinked rapidly, as if unable to believe what he was seeing, a grin spreading across his face as if he had just seen two old friends after a long absence.

"Officer Hopps? Officer Wilde?" Hadley broke the silence, his voice a mixture of cheerfulness and disbelief that made the watching crowd relax when they saw that the liger didn't appear worried. "My god…" He checked his watch and looked back up at them, shaking his head in amusement and letting out a bark of laughter.

Judy opened her mouth to reply when the liger suddenly spun, stepped onto an overturned cable reel serving as a table and jumped onto a rickety poker table that collapsed even as he leapt from it; he sailed over the heads of watching mammals and within a moment he was darting out a back door as everyone, clients and cops both, stared in shock at the fluid and flamboyant exit.

"Stop, in the name of the law!"

Nick suddenly saw a grey and blue blur flash in front of him, heading straight down the cleared path and racing for the door the liger had just vanished through. He heard someone shouting "Nononono!" at the bunny and was surprised to realize that it was him; his body was already moving after her, knowing there was really no other way out of the mess but through.

Judy weaved her way past the few remaining mammals standing in her way, reaching the door just as the crowd began to wake up. Nick was only half a second behind her, but felt the growing pressure in the room as voices began to shout in protest. He could almost feel some intangible force tightening around his neck, making it hard to breathe, before he burst out the back door and into a dark alley behind the bar and the sensation was suddenly gone.

Hadley was already well down the alleyway with Judy in hot pursuit and Nick set off racing to keep up. He'd only made it about twenty feet before he heard an explosion behind him; he turned just in time to see the back door splinter into a thousand pieces as dozens of mammals tried to squeeze through the tiny doorway and into the alley in what could only be described as a tidal wave of mammals.

Smaller animals that stumbled and were at risk of getting trampled were scooped up by the larger ones who set them down again to rush after Nick and Judy. Nick couldn't help but thinking it would have been a heartwarmingly wonderful display of interspecies co-operation if they hadn't been co-operating to break every bone in his body.

He picked up his pace.

Judy was so focused on the figure of Hadley in front of her she didn't notice Nick until he had pulled level with her. She couldn't help but be a little impressed at the fox; over short distances she was inarguably the fastest officer in the department, and while she was conserving herself a little she was still near her top speed.

She had been entirely focused on the pursuit before but now the sounds of angry roaring, bleating and everything in between suddenly assailed her ears. She took a brief millisecond to dart a look back over her shoulders and her eyes widened like saucers at the sight of the stampede coming their way.

 _Oh. Right. Nick warned me about this._

She looked over at her partner to find him looking back at her with the same wide-eyed expression of bewildered fear. He still somehow managed to convey a reproachful look of 'I told you so' underneath the worry and she couldn't help but let out a little hysterical snort of laughter. Nick's eyes widened even further and they both spared another glance for the furious crowd pursuing them.

They looked back at one another.

A manic laugh escaped both of them.

 _We're dead._

Nick's gaze was locked on the fleeing liger ahead of them, no longer paying any attention to the bellowing menace behind; each glance back would just slow him down. He scrambled over discarded piles of trash, unable to believe how cluttered his escape was. No doubt if it had been the middle of the day he would have been crashing into watermelon-sellers and avoiding people carrying huge sheets of glass back and forth. He envied Judy as she seemed to flow over the obstacles with little trouble.

Although Hadley was still in sight, they hadn't pulled any closer. The liger was remarkably quick for someone so large and he seemed to slip past any obstacles in his way with all the grace of… well, Judy.

The liger darted down one alleyway after another, never seeming to even pause at a junction as he raced away from them. Nick took comfort in the fact that the liger clearly knew where he was going; maybe he might get away, but at least he wouldn't lead them into any dead ends where their pursuers could trap them.

He turned down the next alley and cursed as he saw Hadley racing towards a dead end.

"You've got to be kidding me," he panted, wondering what karma was coming home to roost. He'd never been that bad, right?

Judy never even broke her pace as she darted into the alleyway after the liger and Nick dutifully followed. They were about half-way down the alley when the liger reached the end of it. If they could take Hadley into custody maybe they could… nope, he couldn't think of anything. They were dead.

Suddenly the liger veered to the side, as if about to slam into the wall. Just as he was about to hit he suddenly began to dart up what Nick had thought was yet another pile of discarded wreckage but turned out to be a pair of rickety stairs.

Within a handful of seconds the liger had reached the top, shouldered open a door at the top and disappeared inside to the sounds of startled yells and crashing. Judy and Nick immediately followed suit, dashing up the stairs shoulder to shoulder and darting through the door.

Inside, two small wolves in overalls with greyish brown fur sat opposite one another, an overturned table lying between them while food splattered the walls and shattered plates littered the floor (though one unbroken plate was still rattling a crescendo as it spun across the floor, there's always one). Looks of complete shock could be seen on the wolves' faces as they stared towards a window on the far side of the room. The frame had been half destroyed as if something huge had been forced through it. The two wolves turned to face the cops, mouths still gaping in disbelief at what had just happened.

Nick raced over to the window and looked out to see Hadley loping down the alleyway, already putting a considerable distance between them.

"Out here!" He had already started climbing through the window.

"No, wait," he heard Judy call and turned back to find her locking the door behind her as he heard the sound of the mob pursuing them up the fragile stairs in groups of twos and threes. There wasn't a chance the door would hold.

"Fluff, we need to get out of here, now!"

"I know!" she replied as she turned to the two dumbfounded wolves. "Sorry about this, they're on a rampage; you'll have to leave with us."

She was already jostling the dazed wolves out of their chairs and towards the broken window as Nick brushed away some of the discarded glass around the frame before helping the wolves climb through one after another, lowering them onto a shed below the window.

The pounding on the door was becoming increasingly frantic and the sound of the wood splintering became louder and louder as more and more of the hybrids got to the top of the stairs. Nick looked down to see the two wolves still milling around and looking worriedly back up at them.

"You next, Carrots," he gestured to the window.

She shook her head, "No, you."

"You're right, I don't know what I was thinking," he said, recovering from his sudden attack of chivalry and immediately clambered half way through the window before turning to give her a sly wink, earning him an exasperated smile and a roll of her eyes.

He landed a little messily and hopped a bit to steady himself, the two wolves hesitantly holding their paws up as if ready to support him. He turned back to the window and called up, "Alright Judy, come on!"

She was already pulling herself onto the window ledge and just as she swung her legs over the sound of the door finally surrendering erupted from the room. Without taking the time to look she leapt from the window and Nick rushed forward to catch her.

He didn't catch her, but he did break her fall as she crashed into him in a tangle of arms and legs. Judy struggled to separate herself and sat back, looking down at the fox as he moaned gallantly.

"Are you hurt?" she asked as she stood up.

"Just my pride," he winced as he pulled himself to his feet. "And my everything else."

"Down here!"

The voice bellowing from the window called them back to the present and they began to run again. Nick looked around for the two wolves only to see them disappearing around the corner of yet another alleyway.

 _Smart guys._

Judy and Nick began running in the last direction the liger had went, but he was long gone by now. Their chase had failed but their own pursuers still weren't ready to give up. Mammals tumbled from the window into the alley behind them and began chasing them once again. With no-one to follow Nick and Judy took the turns at random, doing their best to shake the crowd in the labyrinthine alleyways of the Docks.

Whether by luck or sheer force of numbers the crowd just couldn't be avoided and soon Nick found his pace slowing as the adrenaline that had been pumping through him began to wane.

 _Not going to last much longer. We need to find a way out of this._

The alley suddenly veered to the left and Nick found himself staring at yet another dead-end; he had never fully appreciated how appropriate that name was.

"Oh, come on!" he wailed, cursing himself for tempting fate.

They both kept running, more out of reflex than anything else. Their pace slowed to a jog, then a walk until they finally stood facing the wall from inches away. They stared at the stonework, panting heavily as the sound of the mob grew closer. They turned to face it together.

Nick glanced around frantically, wondering where the conveniently placed fire escape or stack of crates was.

None. Didn't whoever managed this alley know the proper dynamics of a chase?

He swallowed heavily and looked down at Judy only to find her looking up at him. He found that he wasn't really scared, he'd outrun that some time back; for some reason he was sure that there would be another thing to do. Another way to get out of this.

"Judy-"

"We're going to be okay, alright Nick? We're going to be fine. Just… head down and arms up. Run through them; be fast, get free, don't fight."

It was a terrible plan, probably the most terrible plan he'd heard since he'd spent months plotting that three-day motivational talk to scam some investment capital and had somehow ended up in what he was pretty sure was a cult, but he honestly couldn't think of anything better. He watched, almost feeling like a bystander as the crowd arrived in force and gathered at the other end of the alley. Their numbers had dwindled considerably as the pursuit had continued, but all that meant was that those remaining had a serious _opinion_ on the police.

A dozen and more hybrids stood staring at the two officers. An elderly grizzly bear stood next to a pale, younger imitation of himself and his expression seemed angrier than the rest of the crowd combined. But despite the anger plain on many of the mammals' faces, no-one moved. There was a difference in chasing a couple of cops who came to hassle your friend and assaulting a pair of mammals who hadn't _technically_ done anything wrong.

The sounds of waves lapping against stone flowed over the tops of the buildings on all sides, underscoring the standoff. There was a general shuffling among the crowd that was more a change in the state of mind than any physical movement; they were all waiting for someone to take the lead and decide what should be done next. The adrenaline rush had long since burned out but they couldn't just let the cops go, it would be too _embarrassing_ after the furious chase.

 _Great, we're gonna get hospitalized because these guys don't have a healthy sense of self-worth._

He heard Judy take a deep breath right next to him, drawing his gaze just in time to see the thick cable that slapped against the wall just behind her, a loud crack echoing out and drawing all attention as it bounced against the bricks.

Nick was already moving before the cable had time to bounce a second time. One arm wrapped around Judy as he rushed them towards their last real hope of escaping this relatively intact. The cable was thick and capable of hoisting around large shipping containers, never mind a rabbit and fox. He lifted the bewildered bunny in both paws, urging her to climb this sudden new route of escape. She had just gripped it and begun to shimmy up the rope when Nick sensed rather than saw the cable twitch. He just had time to grasp it when it was pulled back with a frighteningly smooth speed that yanked the fox off his feet; he stared down at the yelling crowd that had rushed to the spot just below them, cursing and glaring up at them as they made their rapid and unexpected escape. Nick thought he saw a few with rather relieved looks hidden beneath the anger and annoyance, just as glad as Nick was to have avoided a potentially messy situation.

Well, probably not as glad as _Nick_ , but they were certainly thankful.

They bounced against the wall repeatedly but Nick hardly felt a thing, just the air getting knocked from his lungs a few times; all he was focused on was his hands gripping the cable, Judy's floundering figure above him and the rapidly approaching lip of the warehouse roof.

They suddenly stopped, Judy inches from the top, the dramatic loss of speed unbalancing Nick as he felt his stomach still eager to rise; he clenched his jaw tight and tried to ignore the sense of queasiness that overwhelmed him.

As he struggled not to vomit on the still milling crowd below he failed to notice the sound on someone approaching on the roof above. Two massive paws suddenly appeared over the lip of the roof and fumbled around, enveloping Judy and pulling her up. The other closed around Nick's neck and shoulders in a vice-like grip and he was lifted face-to-face with their long-fled liger, Hadley.

"I'm sorry, officers, I never thought it would get this out of hand," said the liger as he stood up, still gripping them in a paw each. He carried them away from the edge of the roof, the sounds of the crowd below dying out. "You did quite well, I've seen mammals who know the area better than you two get turned around much easier."

A warm smile crossed his face as he examined both of them, "Are you two really investigating Ishkar's death?"

The liger's grip was firm and unyielding and Nick found it difficult just to breathe, never mind talk, and could only respond with a slight nodding of his head. From Judy's nodding out of the corner of his eye, he imagined she was in much the same situation.

"Amazing," the liger shook his head in disbelief, just like back in the bar, as if still unable to believe it. "I really hope you manage to catch who did it, I really think he'd prefer that."

"Qes-tins," Judy managed to gurgle out but Hadley just shook his head.

"I wish I could help, Officer Hopps, I really wish I could, but it would make some of my friends really rather unhappy." They had made it to the other side of the roof by now and he stood with one foot on the lip of the roof. "But do know that I'm rooting for you. It'll take them about five minutes to detour around, but I don't think they'll even bother. You can swim, yes?"

He looked back and forth between the two cops in his hands, both had the same look of puzzlement at the sudden question from the liger. Nick was about to try and ask him to repeat himself when he suddenly heard the rush of wind in his ears and felt himself tumbling through open air towards the rapidly approaching darkness of the bay below.

The water was cold and crisp and he plunged a considerable depth before he managed to figure out which was up and swim towards the top. As he broke the surface he already heard Judy gasping for air. His eyes immediately went to the roof they had just been flung from but Hadley was long gone. Nick began to paddle towards the shore, following Judy who had already reached the dock and was struggling to pull herself out.

They were soon squelching their way through the dark streets and alleys, their uniforms and fur soaked thoroughly and leaving a trail of dripping water behind them. Neither of them said anything, the disaster of their chase still needing some time to fully settle.

After numerous wrong turns and a couple of wary stares from the few mammals still hanging around the area, they returned to the front of Tiers. The bar was closed, with all lights off it looked like the place had been abandoned for years.

Nick crouched down and stuck his head between his knees, his hands wrapped around the back of his head as he suppressed a moan.

There was a large car-shaped empty space where they had left the cruiser.

"Where is it? Didn't we park here?" Nick faintly heard Judy ask herself (or maybe him, but he was in no state to pay attention), her voice becoming increasingly panicked as the truth set in on her.

Nick was a little relieved, to be honest; Judy was just as much to blame this time as he was and there was no way Bogo was going to throw her off the force just yet, so maybe he could squeeze by on the bunny's coattails yet again.

"They took the cruiser? They _took_ the _cruiser?"_

He looked up to see Judy stalking up and down the alley, staring into shadows and looking for some nonexistent side-path as if believing that she had somehow managed to miss a massive police cruiser that just wasn't there.

"They took the cruiser," confirmed Nick in a deadpan voice.

"They took the cruiser!" exclaimed Judy, still more shocked than angry.

They stared at one another, Judy's indignant disbelief crashing against his weariness until Nick heaved out a heavy sigh and stood and the two continued their wet plodding way out of the Docks.


	9. Chapter 9

An indignant gerbil ran after Nick, waving a mop and chattering at the fox in a language he didn't understand but left no room for doubt that he was unhappy. Nick stared back at the long wet track he'd left trailing across the foyer.

Nick crouched and leant over the furious gerbil, "Sorry, buddy, it's been a rough night."

The tiny mop soared like a javelin and struck him between the eyes with a tiny squelch. He lifted it delicately from his snout between finger and thumb, watching the diminutive janitor return to a crowd of other chattering, high-fiving gerbils who were either cheering the returning hero or yelling incomprehensible insults at Nick.

"Are they really the best the department can hire?" he asked his damp partner.

"I think Bogo likes how they get the corners clean," replied Judy idly, barely paying attention to Nick's blossoming feud with the janitors.

The foyer was mostly empty, a quiet lull in activity having spread out due to the late hour. Clawhauser sat behind his desk, bobbing as he silently mouthed the words to an unheard song; he was eating a bowl of cereal with one hand as the other flicked through a pile of documents stacked beside him.

Nick and Judy made their way past the desk and split for the locker rooms to clean themselves up. The lights were off when Nick entered so the girlish scream that escaped him when he turned them on to find Wolford had been just sitting silently in the darkness was _entirely_ justified.

"Wolford! _What the hell are you doing in here?"_ gasped Nick, his heart beating against his chest as if attempting an escape.

A panicked look crossed the wolf's face and he ran to the door, shoving Nick out of the way and opening it a crack to peer out. He waved a paw at Nick, trying to get him to be quiet.

"Hiding," whispered the wolf.

" _Hiding?"_

"I think I might have, uh, 'annoyed' Bogo."

Nick's surprise at finding the wolf was washed away as he suddenly remembered _he_ was supposed to be 'annoyed' at Wolford too and glared at him.

"Well what the hell were you thinking? Putting the Review Committee in the observation room?"

" _I didn't know who they were!_ I thought it was just another one of those creepy police appreciation groups. Those weirdos arrange for tours of the station all the time!" Wolford shut the door and slunk back into the locker room and collapsed onto the bench in the middle of the room; a picture of dejection.

"Just go and get it over with, you can't stay here all night," said Nick, desperately wanting a little peace and quiet before he went for his own confrontation with the buffalo.

"Why not? I stayed here last night."

"Of course you did. Why?" asked Nick tiredly as he tried to work the combination lock on his locker, his cold fingers stiff and clumsy.

" _The station's the last place he's gonna look, Wilde,"_ replied Wolford, as if he was a magician revealing a trade secret, "I learned my lesson the last time he showed up at my place."

"He went to your _home_?" asked Nick, unable to believe even Bogo would go that far.

"My wife had him stay for dinner," continued the wolf, delighting in the horror on Nick's face as he revealed the sadistic nature of their boss. "They spent the entire evening discussing my _career prospects."_

(If it had been a dark and stormy night a crash of thunder would have boomed ominously.)

"I put my mother's number down as my next-of-kin contact!" gasped Nick, a sense of dread swelling in him. Wolford's grin grew even wider as he heard this; it was always nice to know someone was in a worse position than yourself.

 _This week just keeps getting better,_ thought Nick as he finally got the combination right and jerked the locker open. He grabbed a gym bag crumpled into a heap at the bottom, began to remove his damp uniform and throw it into the bag. He suddenly felt a shiver run up his spine and turned to find Wolford staring at him with a predatory grin; he clutched his unbuttoned shirt closed at Wolford's hungry gaze.

"What?"

"What happened to you?" asked the wolf, his voice much more animated and eagerly awaiting Nick's story so he could add it to his arsenal of gossip.

Nick sighed and decided it would be better to just get it over with and be candid rather than letting the wolf create his own imagined version of events, "We got chased by a few dozen mammals down in the docks. We managed to get away, but the guy that helped us ended up throwing us off a roof into the bay."

He decided to leave the part about the missing cruiser out, hoping by some slim chance that it would pass by the scuttlebutt of the precinct. It wasn't likely.

"Damn Wilde, I knew having a fox in the department was going to be fun," said Wolford as he texted something furiously on his phone.

They _had_ eventually found their missing vehicle; Judy had spotted it on-top of a some of shipping containers stacked five high. To the mob's credit, it looked mostly fine; except for the fact that it had been flipped onto its roof and left somewhere they had no chance to easily retrieving it.

When Nick saw no nearby cranes (or whatever they used to lift things around here, pulleys he supposed) he was once again immensely glad to have escaped the clutches of the crowd. Anyone strong enough to carry a car up there would have made putty out of the fox and the rabbit.

A brief search had turned up no-one willing or able to get the cruiser back down and they'd eventually had to keep on moving until they finally found a payphone they could call the precinct on. Which was weird in itself, when did you ever see a payphone these days? Though he supposed it was more likely in a forgotten area like the docks than anywhere else in the city.

After a brief explanation to Clawhauser they had returned to their cruiser to await their backup. Francine and Trunkaby had soon turned up, their large and reinforced car just barely able to make it down some of the narrower docks' alleyways.

Francine had checked to make sure Nick and Judy were okay while a laughing Trunkaby had focused entirely on the car balanced precariously atop the containers. He'd taken several pictures of it and had taken one with Nick and Judy in the foreground looking damp and dejected before Francine had given him a smack around the head and they started to make their way back to the station. The elephants probably could have gotten the cruiser down, but Francine had been concerned they'd damage something and had decided they would leave it until the morning.

Thankfully, Nick's barebones account seemed to be enough for Wolford and the notorious gossip had already gone off muttering, creating details that had as much basis in reality as the tooth fairy. But he was too tired to care about the wolf's battle against truth and finished undressing before heading to the showers.

It had been a terrible night, but Judy couldn't help but grin as she looked at herself in the mirror. She dusted away an unseen piece of lint on her shoulder and stood straighter. If she stood any more to attention she'd soon be bending over backwards.

She practiced a beaming smile in the mirror.

Then a stern frown.

Then a pensive, listening look.

 _Looking good, Hopps,_ she admired.

Then she realized she was in a potentially public place and memories of her encounters with Mrs Wallow flashed into her head. She stopped posing in the mirror but gave herself one long last lingering look in her formal police uniform as she walked away.

It's not like she _wanted_ to wear it, certainly not, even though the quality and cut of the cloth was so much better than her regular uniform, even though the dark navy blue looked so smart, even though the gold braid added just the right amount of class without being too gaudy.

 _I'll just have to put up with it,_ she thought as she suppressed her satisfaction.

It was the end of the week and the only uniform that wasn't in the laundry was in a damp puddle at the bottom of her locker. She had worn it at Nick's graduation ceremony a few weeks ago but had never realized how good it looked until then. Although she hadn't been completely alien to the idea, she had never been obsessed with style like some of her sisters and brothers; it just wasn't what she devoted her interests towards. But she now realized she just hadn't found the right outfit.

Closing her locker, she made her way back to the foyer to wait for Nick; it was still as empty as before and she made her way over to the desk and Clawhauser.

"Hey Ben, you look busy."

The cheetah didn't look up immediately, his eyes going out of focus as he hurriedly rushed to silently sing the last chorus in the song running through his head.

"Oh, hey Judy," he said when he was done, "It's good to see you and Nick got away safely."

They'd been vague when they'd called the desk earlier, but Clawhauser had an idea of what had gone down.

"We've had a lot of practice," grinned the bunny.

Clawhauser shoved the pile of documents to the side and leant over the desk, looking down at Judy with a look of excitement in his eyes.

"Have you heard the new album yet?" he asked, swelling as if ready to explode.

Judy froze as if she'd just been caught in a pair of headlights. She was as big a Gazelle fan as anyone, but she knew from experience that getting cornered by Ben when he wanted to discuss the antelope's work was asking for trouble. The cheetah lost any concept of social niceties and would keep her here for the rest of her shift if he could get away with it.

"I-"

"I just can't believe how talented she is. How does she change her style so much? She's based the entire album on a bunch of old traditional stuff, but it sounds so new! You know what I think? I think-"

"How much longer is our shift? I'm already sick of this job," broke in a voice behind Judy. She turned to see the scruffy fox, changed into a fresh uniform but still looking slightly disheveled. Grabbing the opportunity of escape and Nick's arm at the same time she started to move away from the cheetah before he could get into full-on fan mode.

"Sorry Ben, this eager beaver just can't wait to get back out there, we better get going," she said, ignoring the bemused look Nick was giving her as she literally dragged him away from the conversation. A beaver sitting in the nearby waiting area suddenly perked up with a mildly offended air as he stared at Judy; she ignored the flush of embarrassment and tried to hurry away.

"Oh, sure, but, the chief wanted to see you before you went back out," added Clawhauser, his voice a little disappointed as he had been cut off before he could really start to deconstruct the album line by line.

Judy winced as she turned back to the desk sergeant. She'd hoped to have the weekend between her and meeting the buffalo again; they'd been pushing the chief too far already and she wasn't looking forward to having to explain what had happened to the cruiser.

"Any idea where he is?"

"Uh, he's in his office," admitted Clawhauser with a look of sympathy for the two cops.

Judy let out a long groan. Bogo didn't even have time for a bathroom break these days, so the thought that he'd managed to carve out time just to meet them in his office did not fill her with confidence. She'd had more than a few arguments with the chief in his office, and while they had never escalated to them outright yelling at one another it had come close a few times.

She began to trudge up the stairs to Bogo's office, Nick trailing behind her. The fox wasn't as panicked as he had been earlier, when Bogo had fully focused his ire on him, but he still didn't seem to have the usual snarky attitude he employed when dealing with the chief.

"You'll never guess who I found hiding in the locker room," he said.

"I don't know; Wolford, probably."

"Wh- Yeah, how did you know?"

"He hides there a lot when Bogo's on the warpath. Everyone knows that."

"Does Bogo?"

A laugh escaped her, "Of course he knows. He's mean, but he's not stupid."

"Why doesn't Bogo just go yank him out of there?"

She shrugged, "The station's a weird place, Nick; Wolford will lay low for a few days and get a bunch of work done so he'll have something to give to Bogo when he finally comes out. Meanwhile, Bogo'll pretend he doesn't know he's in the building. It's just how the department works; they'd all go crazy otherwise."

"Sounds like you're already well on your way," muttered Nick.

Judy grinned but didn't deny the accusation, "Bring Wolford a sandwich and he'll do your paperwork for you, he doesn't even leave to go to the cafeteria," she advised.

They arrived at the door to Bogo's office and Judy knocked softly, perhaps in the hope that the buffalo wouldn't hear and the whole problem would just somehow magically vanish.

"Enter," came the voice from inside, which did not bode well. Anyone that commanded visitors to _enter_ was not in a positive (or even sane) frame of mind.

Taking a deep breath, she plastered a slightly too cheery smile on her face and shoved at the door, opening it just enough to allow her and Nick slide through a gap in the door.

Bogo was behind his desk, wearing a pair of reading glasses and studying one of many reports stacked on his desk. He made no motion to look at them as they entered, he merely pointed at the chair opposite the desk with his pen as he continued the drudgery of police administration. Judy took a few quick steps and leapt into the seat as Nick scrambled up after her. She hated this chair, it always made her feel like she was just a kid again, called to the principal's office for fighting.

Bogo, to his credit, didn't keep them waiting and put down the expense report he was reviewing to peer at the two of them over the rims of his glasses. To Judy's surprise he didn't look angry, just mildly irritated, as he examined the two of them.

"Upside down?" he asked.

Judy winced and opened her mouth to reply but couldn't think of any combination of words that would make it better. She nodded her head mutely. The buffalo let out a long sigh and leant back in his chair, which creaked in protest as it felt the full weight of the chief.

"Trunkaby's already sending out the pictures?" asked Nick, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Wolford is," corrected Bogo.

" _Wolford_? How'd he even get them so quick? And isn't he hiding from you?"

"He's not the smartest officer I have."

Judy and Nick exchanged a wry smile.

"And neither are you two."

The smile disappeared.

"What did you find out?" continued the chief.

"Well," started Judy, slipping into professional mode, "We managed to track down a known acquaintance of Ishkar's, Hadley; apparently, they met up a few hours before Ishkar's death."

Bogo raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"He was in this bar called Tiers, down by the docks," The name of the bar elicited a soft grunt of surprise and recognition from Bogo, "He wasn't willing to answer questions, but he did mention something about people who would be unhappy for us to investigate," a hint of excitement crept into her voice. "I think it could be some sort of conspiracy."

For some reason, the suggestion of a conspiracy to kill an employee of a political campaign a few weeks before the election did not fill the buffalo with the same excitement as Judy. Seeing the stoic expression on the chief's face, Judy moderated her excitement.

"Why do I feel," pondered the chief slowly, "that you've left some details out? Perhaps the details that explain how your cruiser ended on top of a stack of shipping containers?"

" _Upside-down_ on top of a stack of shipping containers," added Nick in a proud but not entirely helpfully manner.

"Hopps, you really need to teach your partner when to keep his mouth shut," interrupted Bogo in a crisp, no nonsense voice. Judy gave Nick a dig in the ribs with her elbow; the fox let out a tiny grunt and rubbed at his side as he flicked a grin between the two other officers.

"We- I misjudged the crowd in the bar and may have unintentionally provoked them," admitted Judy, embarrassed that she had so easily forgotten Nick's warnings and feeling guilty for getting him into such a dangerous situation. Nick, in turn, frowned at her as she claimed all the blame for herself, but held his tongue; he still had a part of him that refused to admit to anything, even to a cop. _Especially_ to a cop.

Bogo's hard stare at Nick made it clear that the buffalo didn't believe the fox was blameless for the whole fiasco, but wasn't interested in pursuing the matter any further. For the moment, at least. His look passed between them, seeming to size them up as if he was seeing them for the very first time.

"Hopps, leave the case file on Delgato's desk before you leave. He can review it over the weekend and you'll continue the investigation with him next week. Wilde, you'll team up with McHorn. Dismissed."

Bogo went back to reviewing the paperwork scattered across the desk completely ignoring his two smallest officers' stunned expressions as they stared back at him. The rustle of paper as Bogo continued his never ending battle with bureaucracy was the only sound in the room.

"What?" asked an unsteady voice that Judy only belatedly recognized was her own.

A sigh escaped the buffalo and he removed his glasses, sinking back in his chair in exhaustion as her rubbed the bridge of his nose. Clearly this was a conversation he was hoping he could gloss over.

"After the end of this shift, you'll partner with Delgato and Wilde will partner with McHorn."

"Chief-" started Judy but Bogo held up his hoof, cutting the rabbit off before she had a chance to get into an arguing mood.

"Sanrlofwas assaulted tonight," he said flatly, cutting off the protests of either officer. "You'll both be paired with more experienced officers until the election ends. Maybe beyond that, too."

"Is he alright?" asked Judy, shocked someone would assault a cop despite the earlier events of the evening. She didn't want to be around the station when they brought whoever had done it, Bogo was clearly stockpiling all his anger in preparation for that moment.

"A few bruises but nothing too serious, the doctor's already sent him home and he'll be back with us in a week. But it might not be as easy next time."

Judy's relief at the good news was quickly dampened as she refocused on the hint that the breaking up of their partnership might not just be a temporary thing; but her protest was cut off by Nick as he awoke from his stupor.

"You're not putting me with McHorn." he said in a matter-of-fact statement, "I'm not working with anyone but Judy; _we're partners_. I'll quit first."

For some reason, Nick's threat to quit didn't send Bogo crashing to his knees and begging the fox to stay; her paw gripped Nick's arm, his loyalty was endearing but she didn't want her friend to back himself into a corner he couldn't get out of.

"Sir, I thought we'd proved that we were just as good as any of the others. I _know_ we have," she insisted, her voice taking on an edge that seemed to make the buffalo wince though he sill didn't back down.

"And I thought you'd learned that everyone has limitations too, Hopps. I was sure you did, in fact, until I heard about this jaunt through the docks." His voice had the usual grumpy tone the buffalo nearly always employed, but it didn't have any heart behind it.

"Like McHorn could have made a difference if he'd been there," scoffed Nick, "Hell, he'd have been swamped by them! At least we could outrun them."

Bogo suddenly rose from his chair, hooves planted on the desk as he loomed over the two of them, his brief moment of weariness now a distant memory as the fox and the bunny retreated from the force of nature in front of them.

"You two are _competent_ but you are _small_." said the buffalo, his tone more exasperated than angry, "Things are getting out of hand out there and it's taking all we have to keep a lid on it. If putting you with a larger officer gives some idiot half a second's pause before deciding you're an easy target, then so be it. You're not the only two getting reassigned so just _fall in line. Understood?"_

Nick and Judy nodded furiously, huddled together deep within the oversized chair.

"Good. Now, since you're so keen on finishing your shift, get up to Tundratown; Delgato needs some help crowd watching. Jones can drop you off on his way home."

This news brought a whole new look of consternation across Judy's face and she was about to start begging for another cruiser when the chief let out another snort of annoyance that sent them scrambling for the door.

"Wait," called the chief as they got to the door and they both turned back to the chief who took a small tree's worth of paper in his hooves and walked over to them before dumping the papers into their arms.

"Drop these off in the locker room before you go. I want them done by tomorrow."

Judy made her way back down to the lobby, Nick following up behind as they carried the awkward bundle of work between them, the fox still indignant about the sudden reassignment thrust upon them.

"This is unbelievable, who does he think he is? Don't we have a union? How do we strike?"

"No-one is going to strike over a change in the roster, Nick. It's not really that big a deal, is it?"

The fox looked at her as if she'd just confessed to killing his mother; but it was gone in a flash, quickly replaced with his practiced flippant demeanor.

"Yeah. Right. Just wondering how I'm going to fit in my daily quota of irritating bunnies, I have a schedule to keep to."

She sent him a grimace of a smile, "I'm sure you'll manage somehow. Bogo'll have us paired back up as soon as all this election stuff dies down, at least he hasn't stuck us on administrative duty. We're still on the job, that's the important thing, right?"

"Right. No big deal," said Nick.

"No big deal," repeated Judy.

 _Sure feels like one, though,_ she thought.


	10. Chapter 10

"-and the elephant says, 'That's not my trunk.'"

The high-pitched peal of laughter cut through the car, shrill enough to make ears bleed.

The car was tiny and would have been cramped with her alone, never mind the boar, ermine, and fox crammed in there with her.

"So _the mouse says_ , 'That's alright, _that's not my nose_.'" Nick finished the joke with such a deadpan delivery that would have gotten a laugh from Judy if she hadn't been so utterly baffled by what was happening right behind her. Michael's laughter ratcheted up several octaves to an inaudible pitch but Judy was sure she could see the car windows tremble as they threatened to shatter.

"You're alright, Wilde," gasped the ermine in the back seat as he struggled to regain his composure. Nick and Michaels, much to their respective friends' utter shock, hadn't been sitting in utter silence the entire trip from the station to Tundratown.

Judy had expected at best a journey of tense conversation as the irritable little ermine glared at Nick and Judy for intruding on his personal space; Jones' had once brought her along to lunch with the two of them and it was easily in her top five most uncomfortable experiences since getting to the city.

But this was somehow worse. It was unnatural. It was… just… _weird._

Everyone knew the ermine refused to have anything to do with anyone outside his required duties. People even wondered why Jones bothered hanging around with the diminutive grump; he was just as rude to the boar as anyone else, though he didn't seem to actively avoid him.

Jones did his best attempt at screeching to a halt, but the uncooperative weather denied him his dramatic moment as they slid an extra dozen yards with the wheels locked before lightly ramming a bank of soft snow and coming to a jolting stop. Jones didn't seem to care.

Judy looked out into the white nothingness beyond and trusted that the boar knew where they were, because she had absolutely no idea. The usually jolly boar looked over at Judy with a kind of blank shock reflected in his glassy eyes. Judy hoped he'd be able to recover from this one day.

"Get out," he intoned, his stare focused on her and not daring to dart over to the back seat.

Judy, who had always gotten along with the outgoing coroner, decided it would be best to let the boar have the weekend to recover. She couldn't really blame him for his rudeness, he'd just had his entire world shaken to the core.

"Thanks for the lift, Arthur," she mumbled and opened the door to the howling blizzard outside. Slipping outside she somehow found the sub-zero weather to be infinitely more welcoming. She could just hear the muffled sound of Nick's door shutting over the storm, watching as Jones' tiny car kicked up a flurry of snow as its wheels spun in place before suddenly lurching free and sliding its way down the street and into the blizzard. Although only feet away from her, she could only make out the faint shape of Nick until he walked right next to her.

"You are unbelievable," she said, unable to hold it in any longer.

"What?" he yelled back at her, cupping a paw around his ear.

She yanked him closer to her face and shouted right into his ear, "You're unbelievable!"

Wincing as he rubbed his ear and straightened up, he gave her a double thumbs up and tried to smile through the snow pelting him in the face.

"I know!" He yelled back, his voice nearly lost in the storm despite her excellent hearing.

She could already feel the snow settling into her fur and beginning to freeze and decided this was no place to have a conversation. She moved towards the vague shape ahead of them that she hoped was their destination.

The snow-blowers had been working over capacity for weeks, all trying to hold back the sweltering heat of the other districts. It wasn't so bad at the edges of Tundratown, it felt the same as usual, but the closer you got to the interior of the district the colder and wilder the snow storm became. Supposedly nothing could be done about it, not unless you allowed half the district to melt.

Stepping into the lobby of the hotel, the warmth and light of the building filled her with life again. She shot a reproachful look over her shoulder at the fox following her.

"That was pretty gutsy of you, Nick."

"Thanks," he replied automatically with a grin before a look of confusion replaced it, "Wait… what?"

"If I were you I'd apologize to Jones' as soon as I could," she continued as she led the way into the lobby, heading towards the front desk.

 _"For what?"_ he asked, hurrying after her, "I was a _delight_ back there!"

"Arthur's been Michaels' only friend for years and you just come darting in and acting all… friendly," her voice faltered. It seemed like a strange thing to be annoyed about now that she said it out loud, but she'd spent the entire car ride over watching the boar's world crumble down as his friend was subjected to 'the old Nick Wilde charm'.

"All I'm saying is that you probably don't want to get on the wrong side of someone with an inventive mind and easy access to dozens of corpses."

"Are you seriously mad that I was friendly to Michaels?" he asked, a disbelieving grin flashing at her.

"I'm not-" insisted a suddenly flustered Judy. "It's- _No-one_ gets along with Michaels! Even Jones is constantly bickering with him and the two of them are inseparable! You talk with him for a couple of minutes and suddenly the two of you get on like a house on fire!"

"Did you hit your head or something down at the docks?"

Judy harrumphed and walked away, the classic debate tactic of someone who is quickly realizing they're on the wrong side of an argument.

The entire foyer glistened, or possibly gleamed. At any rate, it sparkled with a nearly audible undertone. Judy had never been here before, but she'd heard about it even back in Bunnyburrow; the Arctic Hotel was the most exclusive hotel you could find in Tundratown and she could easily see why. The building was made entirely from ice; frozen walls stretched up to an intricately sculpted ceiling that was so high that Judy had trouble making out the details. They passed an elderly lemur dozing with a half empty tumbler in his hand, the frame of his chair seemingly carved from a single block of ice and thankfully adorned with what looked like the most expensive and comfortable cushions the rabbit had ever seen.

"There's no need to be jealous, Carrots, there's plenty of Nick Wilde to go around."

Judy, caught off-guard by the _absurd_ comment, missed a step on the icy floor and went crashing to the smooth, waxed surface, sliding a few feet before coming to a rest right before the front desk. Nick stopped beside her, staring down at the pile of bunny for a moment and pointedly not moving a finger to help her up before he turned to smile at the rather startled looking concierge behind the expensive wooden counter.

"Officer Nick Wilde, here for-"

A frantic bustle of movement sounded as Judy scrambled to her feet, popping into view of the concierge; her eyes were bright and smile manic as she tried to pretend her fall had never happened.

"Officer Judy Hopps! This is my _rookie_ partner, Nick Wilde; please excuse him, _he's new_. We're here to help with the Charity Gala."

She stared at the poor pony behind the desk with an aggressive cheerfulness that dared him to mention the fall. The pony eyed the slightly crazed look in the bunny's eyes and felt a flash of self-preservation from long forgotten instincts; he took the wiser choice and didn't ask if she was okay.

"Of… course, officers, if you'll follow me," said the concierge as he stood and moved from behind the desk, and motioned them to follow him up the large central staircase towards a large pair of ornately carved doors.

"You really know how to make an entrance, Carrots."

"Hush up," she muttered, her ears burning red in embarrassment.

The respectable silence of the foyer was broken as the horse pushed the doors open and Judy saw that the reputation of the Arctic was well earned; it was as if they had stepped from the center of Zootopia into some subterranean cavern of wonder. The ceiling towered over them and even an elephant would have felt dwarfed by the sheer scale of the room, never mind Nick and Judy. The banquet hall was divided into three large, wide levels, separated by numerous smaller platforms that crowded around and between them at varying heights.

Furniture of all size littered every inch of space on every platform, all of a rigid, elegant and (most importantly) _expensive_ style. Though there were sizes to suit any size of mammal that might frequent the Arctic, not one chair or table looked out of place with any other.

A small orchestra were crowded on a platform several sizes too small for them, trying and failing to be heard over the constant sound of conversation surrounding them.

Hundreds of ice crystals that dotted the floors, walls and ceilings, each formed around some internal light that gave the hall an eerie yet elegant glow. Their light bounced off the icy walls and floor and against the artificially formed ice stalactites and stalagmites scattered throughout the hall.

Though the collection of mammals milled around in a confused mess of elegant eveningwear, Judy's ears caught a very familiar bellow coming from the center of one of the larger stages. Although she couldn't see him it was clear that ex-mayor Lionheart was somewhere in the hall, his overbearing personality leaving a tangible presence in the air as he worked the crowd of supporters.

Her eyes flicked around the other platforms, searching until they found the figure of Councilor Herd. Although she much more reserved that her leonine opponent, Judy could feel her cool, professional demeanor even as they were separated by dozens of yards and hundreds of mammals. Judy felt a twinge of shame as her head ducked instinctively at the sight of the impala and she cursed herself, forcing herself to stand straight in defiance of the mammal that had so easily shaken her just the other night.

Tables were spread over each of the platforms but the meal seemed to have ended as mammals moved around socializing and networking with one another, but mostly keeping within their own group of supporters.

A flash of blue on the far side of the hall marked Delgato and the pair began to wind their way through the crowd towards their colleague.

"Did the whole city get invited to this thing?"

Nick resisted the temptation to pick a few tempting pockets as they worked their way through the crowd. He hadn't done it in years, preferring the elegance of a good hustle than simple outright theft, but these people were so blissfully unaware they were practically begging him to take their wallets. He stuck his hands in his pockets and shuffled after Judy.

 _Good fox_ , he told himself.

He felt more than a few glances his way as people noticed that first, there was a fox attending the gala; and second, that the fox was in a police uniform. He was under no illusion that his help in the Nighthowler case had cemented him as a figure worth public notice; he'd kept with his usual low-key approach when the media had been abuzz with the details of the case and while many people might remember a fox somewhere in the background of the newspaper stories, few would be able to name Nick Wilde off-hand. The precinct knew of his help, along with those few that kept up with the details the case, but to the general public Nick Wilde was at most a minor curiosity as the first fox police officer.

And to be fair, he preferred it that way; he had always felt jumpy at getting recognized; whenever he suddenly heard someone call out 'Nick Wilde' it was nearly always followed with, 'I've been looking for you, you sonovabitch!' It was practically a nickname by this point.

Judy, he noticed, was getting more than her fair share of stares also, though the bunny seemed oblivious to them as she led the way across the floor to Delgato. They passed a table with half-eaten meals left discarded and Nick figured the leftovers would have cost more than his food budget for the rest of the year.

He felt more out of place and uncomfortable here than he had back in Teirs when the entire place had been howling for his blood. At least it was his kind of people trying to kill him back there and were honest enough to try with their own hands; if he crossed the wrong person around here he was pretty sure he'd just be vanished by some hired goon. There was something to be said for the personal touch.

His wandering thoughts were suddenly scattered as a polar bear loomed out of the crowd, leaving Nick frozen in a moment of inaction as the figure lurched towards Judy. His paw was reaching for his taser as the bear's meaty paw swung down at her.

He felt like a real idiot when Judy calmly took the paw in both of hers and gave it a polite shake. The young bear, who he now noticed was dressed in an elegant evening dress and pearls and not the latest thug-for-hire ensemble, was positively gushing in excitement as she explained to a rather embarrassed Judy at how inspirational she was.

Nick watched as the Judy stood with the bear as her parents took a photograph which seemed to signal the opening of the floodgates. Mammals began to crowd around, each waiting for their turn at a photograph with the minor celebrity. No doubt a few were like Herd, disdainful of her role in solving the Nighthowler case, but they were more than willing to bury such animosity if it got them a good publicity shot with Judy who still remained quite popular. Popular for a cop, anyway.

He grinned as she shot glares at him between each photograph, pretending not to understand as her eyes silently demanded him to help her. Despite his own aversion to publicity, he liked seeing the bunny being appreciated (so long as it didn't end in a city-wide species war).

 _Good thing she's got the formal getup on; she looks good. Might even make the papers._

After letting her twist uncomfortably for a few minutes, he was about to go and rescue her by threatening the crowd with _getting-their-picture-taken-with-a-fox_ when he felt a tight grip on the crook of his elbow.

He looked to his side and saw nothing. Looking down he saw an elderly beaver dangling from his arm; short even for his own species, the beaver's feet were just scraping the ground as he grinned up at Nick with a wide, toothy smile.

"Officer Wilde!" exploded the beaver in a voice several times too large for his small stature. "I had no idea you'd be attending tonight! I'll have to have a word with Bogo about this!"

"Wh-" managed Nick before getting dragged sideways by the bombastic little mammal that seemed only capable of communicating in exclamations and yanking.

"Really! What was the old bison thinking!? I hope you know that I'd have had you at my table, my boy! You can count on that!"

"Thanks…" said a bemused Nick as he tried to place the beaver, sure he'd seen him somewhere recently.

"We're all so excited to get working with you, you know?! Bogo's a fine old sort, but he's too stuck in his ways! The department's future is in the paws of mammals like you!"

I sure hope it isn't, he thought as his brain finally kicked a few sleeping memories awake.

"Glad to have your confidence, sir, I'm looking forward to working with you and the Committee."

The beaver was one of the Civilian Review Committee he'd messed around with in the observation room; he remembered the little beaver's reading had been incredibly dramatic, but he hadn't realized that this had been the beaver's default state of being.

He can't always be like this, right? No-one could maintain this level of enthusiasm all the time.

"And we you, sir! And we you!" continued the beaver, his iron-like grip still firm on Nick's arm as he dragged the stumbling fox up to a small group of beavers.

"Alicia! Look! It's him! The fox I told you about! Officer Wilde! I told you they'd hired a fox!

Nick cringed internally as the beaver's excited yelling drew stares from all those nearby, but his decades of maintaining a flawless façade didn't let him down and he smiled at the female beaver looking at him with a mix of curiosity and pity. As they approached she lightly slapped at the deathgrip her husband still inflicted on Nick.

"Let the poor fox go, Rupert, you'll amputate his arm if you hold it any tighter."

Rupert, looked at his hand absently and suddenly released it, shooting a bashful smile at Nick who deliberately didn't rub at his throbbing elbow.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," said Nick, finding himself somewhat charmed by the aggressive little guy.

Rupert threw his arms into the air and spluttered, "Where are my manners?! Officer Wilde, this is my wife Alicia and my feckless, good-for-nothing children." The two middle-aged beavers continued to stare at their phones as their father introduced them, which caused him to go over and start berating them loudly.

"Rupert's been talking about you ever since this morning," said Alicia, ignoring what must have been usual behavior from her husband and children as she gave Nick a warm, bucktoothed smile. "Congratulations on your appointment, Rupert says you're rather new?"

"Still on my first week," he replied, trying not to let his pride show too obviously. He did have an image to maintain, after all.

"Oh my, and you've already been appointed to work with Rupert and his… colleagues? You really _are_ going places," she continued, her sardonic smile suggesting that she didn't see it as quite the reward her husband did. "Bogo must have his eye on you."

"Constantly," replied Nick with a smile just as dry.

"And what did you do before your new career?" she probed.

"I suppose you could call me an _entrepreneur,"_ he replied. "I moved things from A to B, sometimes C. Seized opportunities as they came up. That sort of thing, if you know what I mean."

"Ah! Transportation! Very important," added Rupert, who had returned from berating his kids and was nodding sagely with his arms folded. Alicia seemed to stifle a laugh at her husband's comment and shot Nick a knowing look.

"Yes, I rather think I do know. We have a few _entrepreneurs_ on the payroll to help Rupert with the business. You'd be surprised how much a successful business needs _'that sort of thing'."_

Nick wasn't surprised. It didn't really matter if you were running scams on the street or working as a corporate stooge, a hustler was a hustler. They knew each other by reputation, if not personally, and it wasn't strange to see someone in a slick suit propping up the types of bar he and Finnick frequented. Which wasn't to say they would be friends or even acquaintances, but there was an undeniable professional recognition, if not respect.

"Like who?" asked a bewildered Rupert, who seemed rather baffled at his wife's comments.

"Mr Shanks. You know, the vole?"

"But he's in Accounting, not Distributions," said an ever more confused Rupert. Nick had the feeling that whatever success their business enjoyed was more down to the wife than the husband.

"But why the change in careers, Officer Wilde? Why join the police?" continued Alicia, rubbing at her husband's arm soothingly as she breezed past Rupert's puzzlement.

Nick, whose most frequent dealing with the truth was on how far he could distance himself from it, felt oddly compelled to be honest with the beavers. He felt an odd but undeniable understanding with Alicia, and Rupert had that aggressive friendliness that made you feel like an old friend within minutes of meeting him. Perhaps it was that the old fellow seemed to be even more enthusiastic about Nick being a cop than he was himself. Hell, he even seemed more excited than Judy was.

Nick looked over his shoulder, scanning the nearby crowd for his partner, well aware of how easily the bunny could accidentally eavesdrop.

 _'Ha, sure, accidentally',_ the more cynical part of his brain interjected, well aware of just how nosy his partner was. Not that he held it against her; when he'd finally got past her prying into every aspect of his life he found it kind of endearing. Sometimes, anyway.

He was sure it was what made her such a good cop and had noticed a few other officers at the precinct suffered from the same lack of boundaries. He suppressed a grimace when he thought of his first encounter with Ramwell; the detective had greeted Nick with an extended embrace and several probing questions about Nick's character that he wouldn't have answered even to himself.

Butting into people's business probably worked a lot better when you were officially sanctioned to do it. 'Tell me what you're doing, I'm nosy,' didn't work nearly as well as 'Tell me what you're doing, I'm a nosy cop.'

He was still suspicious of how conveniently the bunny had been in line at Jumbeuax's that day they had met. She did a good job of presenting herself as a model citizen, and she mostly was, but there was a slyness underneath that was impossible to deny. Probably why he'd taken to her so quickly despite the initial blackmailing and the constant deadly encounters and the public slandering of his species…

 _Why are we friends, again?_

Seeing no sign of the bunny and trusting her mild fame to keep her busy with the crowd he turned back to the beaver, "Well, someone I respect thought I'd be good at it, so...". He shrugged, not sure how to continue and feeling a little embarrassed at his sudden attack of honesty.

Rupert sighed theatrically, "Ah, yes, it's always important to have someone to look up to, I've always thought I must inspire a lot of the younger generation. They're really quite lucky."

Nick wasn't entirely sure if the beaver was joking or not, but the rolling of his wife's eyes suggested not. The old beaver's musings on how he didn't have anyone a fraction as great as himself to admire was interrupted by his wife as she hushed him with a mixture of exasperation and warmth.

"Stop being so foolish, Rupert; go and introduce Officer Wilde around."

The brief frown that crossed Rupert's face was quickly replaced with a one of delight at this suggestion and he once again grabbed Nick's arm and pulled him back into the crowd.

"Best of luck, Officer Wilde," called Alicia as they left her behind.

Within moments the two small mammals had squeezed their way through to a sparsely populated table with a few conversations still going on. The beaver pulled Nick into a quiet conversation between a gaunt dark horse and a light brown wolf in a shabby suit.

The pair turned to look at the barrel of energy that was Rupert as he bellowed a greeting. The wolf's eyes flicked from Rupert to Nick and widened as he saw a fox in a police uniform; he gave a curt nod to the horse before hastily making an exit, clearly eager not to be seen with a fox at the high society gathering. Nick stared after him as he hurried away, a sense of familiarity rising in him at the wary behavior the wolf displayed. He received treatment like that frequently enough on the streets, but he thought someone in politics would have better control over his demeanor; though he couldn't really blame the guy for wanting to distance himself from a walking PR disaster. Rupert glared after the retreating figure, clearly offended on behalf of his new friend and barked a clearly audible, "Rude!"

Both Nick and the beaver's attention was drawn back to the horse by a weary, neighing sigh (which Nick had to admit always sounded special coming from a horse), "What do you want now, Rupert?"

Nick turned his attention to the horse and almost felt compelled to call an ambulance. The equine looked like death warmed up; he was so thin that Nick was sure he could see the outline of bone underneath his unkempt fur and the patchy mane that ran sparsely down the back of his head. His suit looked expensive, but a coat hanger could wear the outfit better than the horse.

The beaming exuberance of the beaver returned as he turned back to the horse, "Lev, allow me to introduce to you a new up-and-comer in the ZPD! Nick Wilde, Lev Trotsky. Lev is a big figure in the shipping industry, Nick; makes sure the whole city keeps ticking over nicely. You probably have a lot to talk about!"

Lev turned his gaze on Nick, moving with a slow inevitability that was more often associated with continental drift. His looked uninterested as he took in Nick's appearance, but not in the dismissive way Nick was used receiving; it was more like the horse just couldn't be bothered to expend the effort to care about Nick.

"Picked up a new stray, Rupert?" the horse asked without an ounce of real interest.

"Lev!" huffed the beaver angrily, "Nick's going to be an important fox in a few years, you know I have an eye for this sort of thing."

Lev flared his nostrils in a lazy snort but didn't refute his friend, turning his attention back to Nick.

"You left quite a mess behind you this evening, Officer Wilde. Not good for business. I hope you don't have any plans to visit the new piers, for all our sakes."

Nick started in surprise at this statement, not sure if he should take it as advice or a warning but mostly just shocked that the horse knew about a relatively minor incident that had only happened a couple of hours ago.

"How'd you hear about that already?" asked Nick, genuinely curious; he could sense Rupert leaning in beside him, wondering how his old friend and new acquaintance had crossed paths.

Lev shrugged, and even that small task he made seem like a monumental effort. Nick hoped he'd never have to bring this guy in for questioning, Nick would be at retirement age before they managed to get his personal details down.

"The hybrids. Someone has to employ them, after all. Don't look at me like that Rupert, I treat them like any of my other workers."

"Lev's been helping Lizzie with the support of the Dockers' Union," noted Rupert, briefly shooting a peevish look at Lev in an unspoken rebuke. "They're going to be a big help to her on the day, an absolutely fantastic bunch, they really know how to stick together. She loves that sort of thing."

Lev rolled his eyes at Rupert's enthusiasm as Nick's brain tried to puzzle out what the beaver was talking about. His confusion began to disappear as the beaver continued and Nick began to feel an unpleasant sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach as he realized the beaver was talking about Elizabeth Herd. Clearly the beaver hadn't gotten the memo about how toxic she thought Nick was.

"She really needs all the good news she can get, the poor girl," he spoke in a conspiratorial whisper that could have been heard several tables away. "One of her staff died the other night, killed himself they say; terrible business."

"Funny you should mention that…" said Nick awkwardly.

A sudden gasp erupted from the beaver as his vicelike grip reattached itself to Nick's arm. "Nick! You're a cop!"

"For my sins," confessed Nick.

"Bogo should put you on the case! He tells me you helped out with that Nighthowler debacle a few months ago; you'd be perfect for something like this!" He nudged Nick with his elbow, waggling his bushy eyebrows, "And it's never too early to get acquainted with our next mayor."

"Well, to be honest, we've already been looking into it; my partner and I." Though he really doubted it would earn him any favors from Herd.

"A-HA!" yelled the beaver as he let out a staggering smack to Nick's back, or at least as high up Nick's back he could reach. "I knew that old bison wasn't a complete fool; got his best people on the case, eh?"

"One of them, at least," admitted Nick, entirely truthfully.

"We've got to go and meet her, she'll be thrilled to meet you, I have no doubt," said Rupert as he scanned the crowd for the intimidating impala.

"Uh, maybe some other time," replied Nick, who in fact harbored considerable doubts on that point. "I'm actually here on duty and I'm sure my partner is wondering who abducted me."

The beaver wasn't listening, however, "Stay here and I'll see if she has the time to talk. Lev, tell him that story! You know the one!" With those words the beaver was swallowed up by the crowd. Nick looked to the horse who stared back with an expression that said he'd already expended whatever effort he'd thought interacting with Nick was worth. Nick nodded to the horse and let him return to silently doing absolutely nothing, something the horse seemed to enjoy immensely.

The fox looked around to find everyone nearby studiously ignoring him; it was a bit more awkward now that Rupert had gone and he had just decided to go looking for Judy and apologize to the beaver later when he felt a cold prickling running up his spine.

His head snapped around to try and catch who was watching him and his gaze locked with a pair of yellow eyes framed by a simple pair of glasses. Their gaze held for a long moment and the black jaguar behind the eyes smiled pleasantly and tilted his head slightly in an invitation to Nick. Nick paused for a fraction of a second before moving through the crowd.

 _What's the worst that could happen?_

He arrived at the empty table as the jaguar stood up and held out a paw to Nick.

"I hope you're having a pleasant evening, Officer Wilde."

Nick took the large paw in his own and shook it.

"Always do, Mr Vellari."

Judy finally broke free from the impromptu photo opportunity like a drowning bunny reaching shore. She still wasn't used to the minor celebrity status she'd earned and although she was happy that she was accepted so readily by the Zootopian citizens, she couldn't help but be reminded that her success had come on the back of her first big mistake.

What had made the endless series of handshakes more unbearable was the fact that Nick had slipped off in his usual sly manner. If Nick had taken his fair share of the credit for the case she wouldn't have felt nearly so bad about the whole thing; but every time someone felt compelled to force their admiration on her for something she still regarded as an embarrassing mistake cleaned up, the fox was conspicuously absent. She'd almost pulled a muscle in her neck earlier trying to motion Nick to join her but he'd just stood and watched with that dumb smirk of his and when she turned away for a moment he'd run off somewhere.

She couldn't wait for the day he did something stupidly heroic when she wasn't around. _Ha, that'll teach him. Let's see how he'll wriggle his way out of the credit for that one._

She began squeezing her way through the crowd again, heading in the last direction she'd seen Delgato and hoping the lion hadn't had a chance to wander off yet. Hopefully Nick had gone to meet him already, as she couldn't think of any other way of finding the fox in the throng of mammals.

Climbing a set of shallow steps that wound along the side of one of the larger platforms, Judy navigated around a milling group of marsupials that almost knocked Judy out with the smell of alcohol wafting off of them. A sudden intake of breath that could only be described as wobbly came from the side and Judy turned to find Alice Herd waving her hoof limply at the rabbit, a weak smile on her face.

The impala was wearing a dress that Judy guessed cost more than her yearly salary; but, for some reason, on the impala it looked cheaper than the tacky prom dress Judy had worn back in high school. It probably had something to do with the sensation that the mammal was about to suddenly collapse in on herself in a bundle of trembling sobs at the slightest provocation.

Judy waved back as she approached Alice, her eyes instinctively scanning the area for any signs of her sister.

"Hello again, Miss Herd, nice to see you doing... well,' lied Judy politely.

"Thank you, Officer Hopps, it's been such an exhausting day but 'we can't drop the ball for every little thing.'" Her voice took on the sing song glassiness that people had when they were quoting someone else.

Examining the impala up close, Judy found it hard not to flinch at the sight of her. Her thin veneer of cheeriness threatened to shatter at any moment and reveal the utter misery the mammal was wallowing in. Judy scanned the crowd again, this time hoping to pick out Elizabeth Herd and let the politician comfort her pained sister; she'd received the standard training to deal with any grieving member of the public, but even those officers that specialized in it didn't enjoy the job. Seeing no sign of the councilor Judy motioned Alice to follow her and began to force her way through the crowd, clearing a path Bogo would have been hard pressed to make; she turned every few feet to make sure she hadn't lost Alice as she led the way towards the closest wall. The entire time she led the impala she battled with her herself, trying sort the order of importance the questions she wanted to ask Alice about the case and scolding herself for being so unfeeling to the trembling mammal following her.

But it was all part of the job; after all, the Public Liaison Officers weren't picked for how well they could comfort and sympathize, but for how observant they were to all the little involuntary bodily cues or slips of the tongue that might reveal some motive for murder. Four out of five victims knew their killer and there was something about Alice Herd that left Judy wanting to know more. She seemed to be taking the death of someone she'd known for only a few months surprisingly hard.

 _But how would you react if Nick suddenly died?_

She shook her head clear of silly thoughts as they edged along the wall towards a set of swinging wooden doors and entered the kitchens. Despite the meal having finished some time ago, the kitchens still bustled with activity as an army of chefs and waiters still produced desserts, coffees, after dinner drinks and anything else the wealthy attendees suddenly had in their mind to request.

A harried looking doe turned her head at the sound of the door swinging open and took one look at Alice before rolling her eyes before pointing them wordlessly towards the pantry. Judy again took the lead and left the chaos of the kitchens behind them and entered the storeroom, navigating around the two waiters locked in a passionate embrace pressed against one set of shelves and past the meerkat chef who was screaming muffled obscenities into a bag of flour pressed to his face. She settled Alice onto a sack full of onions at the back of the pantry in what was probably the best chance of privacy they could manage on such short notice.

Alice looked up at Judy an opened her mouth as if to say something but all that came out was a quiet sob that continued gently and incessantly. It was worse than any sort of hysterical wailing, at least that couldn't be sustained; Alice's sobs paced themselves for someone who intended on being sad for a very long period of time.

Judy placed her paw on Alice's hoof and stood silently, not wanting to interrupt the mammal and not even sure what she could say anyway. Minutes passed and the chef finally finished his tirade and went back leaving a trail of floury footprints on the ground. The waiters embrace was interrupted by the rather dramatic entry of the third member of their apparent love triangle and they had all gone off arguing, leaving Judy and Alice alone in the storeroom.

Expecting some other craziness to come through the door at any moment, Judy squeezed Alice's hoof slightly, deciding to try and get something out of her while she still could.

"Alice-"

"He didn't kill himself," breathed the impala, making Judy's ears twitch in excitement for a moment before she saw the pleading look in Alice's eyes. "He couldn't have, it wasn't in him to do something like that. He could have… I'd have talked to him about anything he wanted…"

The impala wasn't revealing some crucial clue, she was just looking for comfort that she hadn't missed her friend's suffering.

"You and Charlie got on well?"

A weak smile fought against the misery on Alice's face as she nodded, "Yeah, he only started working with us a few months ago, but he was just the sweetest guy. We just… got each other. Have you ever met someone and for some reason you can't explain you just clicked? He was my best friend." She sighed heavily, "And now he's dead and I didn't help him."

Judy was sure there was something the impala could tell her, she obviously knew Ishkar better than anyone else in the office and Judy couldn't think of any other lead to follow at that moment; but the impala had clearly been traumatized by the death and Judy knew this brief moment of relative calm would be short lived. She had to pick her questions carefully.

"Can you think… Did Charlie say anything or do anything recently that stands out? Something he was excited about? Or worried? Or… anything?"

Her head shook in an automatic no before a sudden sad laugh escaped her, "Just seeing your partner in the newspaper. He really liked that."

Judy shared a smile with her, but it wasn't exactly the lead she had hoped to crack the case. Alice's gaze dropped to stare at her knees and a silence stretched between them. Judy wracked her brains, trying to make sense of what she knew about the case. Mentioning the odd injuries Ishkar seemed to have collected throughout his life probably wouldn't be the best way to get the impala to open up and after her brief meeting with Hadley, and seeing how easily he had escaped their pursuit, she felt it was the liger that held the answer to that line of questioning anyway. She was about to suggest that Alice come down to the station tomorrow when she had time to settle herself when the impala spoke again.

"He said he had a plan. Something… something important. He didn't seem happy about it, or nervous or upset or anything. Just… resigned. That wasn't usual for him, he was always so enthusiastic." Her voice came out haltingly, a flat tone that seemed to be considering the events as dispassionately as she could manage. "He said it would sort everything out…"

"Sort what out?" pressed Judy as gently as she could, "The election?"

The impala seemed to quaver between a nod and a shake before she shrugged weakly, "I really don't know. I think he was going to meet with…" Her voice died slowly, still staring at her lap.

Judy's eyes gleamed as she struggled not to grab Alice and shake the answer out of her, "With who? Was that why he was at the office so late? To meet someone?"

"No, I mean, I don't know why he was there so late. I think he'd already met them earlier in the week. I shouldn't say, I really don't know what it was about. I don't want anyone to get in trouble." Her gaze remained down, refusing to look up at Judy but clearly fighting some internal battle on what she should reveal. "Lizzie says spreading rumors would look bad for her campaign."

"Alice, I don't think Charlie took his own life, either," Judy said, trying to inject her words with every ounce of real concern she felt. "But if we're going to find out what really happened we need to know anything strange that might have been happening. If it makes you feel better, I promise not to tell anyone unless I find out something illegal occurred." It was the best she could offer the impala.

"He was meeting with Mr Vellari," she suddenly said in a hoarse whisper, as if the words were desperate to escape her.

"Vellari? The candidate?" asked Judy, trying to remain unflustered by the shocking revelation. "He definitely said it was him?"

Again, the look of misery returned to Alice's face as she shook her head. "I didn't mean to pry, we were just having lunch at our desks and Charlie had to go take a call and I just thought I should tidy up before he got back and I was moving his things around and it just fell out of his wallet." She spoke in one long unbroken sentence, as if desperate to explain her actions.

"What did?" pressed Judy, nearly bouncing in anticipation.

"A business card. Mr Vellari's business card. It had a date and time written on the back."

Judy tensed, torn between excitement at having a new lead and disappointment that it seemed so innocuous. "Couldn't he have just been meeting with him for your sister?"

Alice shook her head emphatically, "I don't think so, she really doesn't trust him; she doesn't want any of us to have any contact with his campaign. When Simon, her secretary, told her that he'd been meeting with Mr Vellari to see if he would resign and support her campaign, she fired him on the spot; and Simon had been working for her for nearly ten years! It was very odd."

 _Bizarre_ , thought Judy, but kept it to herself as she already wondered what it was about Vellari that had made Councillor Herd so wary.

"We didn't find any card in his wallet, do you know what happened to it?"

The impala sank further down on her sack of onions, a look of guilt washing over her. She opened her clutch and fumbled inside before pulling out a battered card and passing it to Judy as she explained, "I was going to put it back, really, I just didn't have time and I didn't want him to think I was snooping through his things or anything."

Judy examined the card, it was simplistic and elegant, with the name 'Edward Vellari' followed by a host of letters indicating a suprising amount of qualifications the jaguar had obtained. Other than a phone number, there was nothing else that indicated where the jaguar worked or who he represented. On the back of the card someone had written 'Tuesday 2.00pm' and below a number of the strange doodles she'd found scrawled in Ishkar's diary, tiny wolves, birds, snakes and a host of other odd symbols she couldn't make head nor tails of. She showed the card to Alice.

"Do you know what these drawings mean? They were in his diary too."

Alice shook her head, "They don't mean anything, he did that everywhere. He said he was just something to do that helped him think."

Judy took another hard look at the card before putting it away, wondering how soon she could arrange an interview with Vellari to see what exactly his meeting with Ishkar had entailed.

She'd offered to wait with Alice for a cab but the impala had declined the offer, telling Judy that they had rooms arranged in the hotel for the evening. Judy still walked with her out to the foyer and left her at the elevator, making a mental note to see what she could do about getting one of the precinct's grief counselors to meet with the impala.

She finally made her way back into the hall and made straight for Delgato, waving off a few people who tried to waylay her; she'd already kept him waiting longer than she would have liked. He hadn't moved from the spot where she'd seen him earlier and when she got there she saw why; a surly looking alpaca glared out from a thick layer of wool at Judy as she approached, probably due to the fact that he was handcuffed and sat on a chair as Delgato loomed over him.

"Delgato, what's happening?"

"Hopps, finally!" said the lion, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her. "Where's Wilde?"

"He's around here somewhere, we got split up on the way."

"Well go find him, I need you two to run this guy down to the station," he continued, his paw landing heavily on the shoulder of the alpaca.

"Uh, we can't," she replied.

"You can't?"

"We… our cruiser got… flipped. Bogo wants us head back with you when we're done."

Delgato stared at her for a long moment, seemingly confused, " _Flipped_?"

"Please, just don't ask," Judy pleaded, "You'll hear about it soon enough, I'm sure."

Delgato cocked an eyebrow at her but didn't press the issue, looking back at his perp he sighed, "Fine, I'll go get this guy booked and be back as soon as I can. You and Wilde can handle this lot until I get back?"

Judy nodded firmly, not taking offence at the question. Delgato was one of the longer serving members of the force and she knew him well enough by now to know he would have asked the same question to any officer that was still only six months on the job.

"Alright, hold tight, I'll be back soon."

"Wait, how's Snarlof?" she asked.

Delgato shot the alpaca a particularly dirty look before responding, "He's fine, just a little shaken up. Tried to break up an argument and didn't expect one of them to go feral on him."

The alpaca sunk a little lower in his chair at the pressure emanating off the lion in waves. Judy added a glare of her own to match Delgato's; it was always worrying to hear about another officer getting hurt.

"He'll be okay?" pressed Judy.

"Oh yeah, he's taken worse. Way worse. His nose has been broken so many times now it practically shatters when he sneezes, he just didn't expect we'd have to deal with that sort of thing with this crowd. How's Bogo taking it?"

"Uh, not well."

Delgato snorted, "Yeah, sounds about right. He always overacts to this kind of thing; make sure you lay low for the next few weeks, he'll be tense with everybody."

"He has me and you teaming up from next week on."

The lion groaned, "He's not reorganizing the whole shift again, is he? I never thought he'd dare try that again, not after last time."

Judy couldn't help but grin in shared sympathy at the look of exasperation on Delgato's face as he pulled the alpaca from the chair and started to walk him through the crowd.

"Hey, who was he fighting with?" called Judy after the lion, who turned back and pointed at a figure a few tables over.

"Him. I'd take him too but they were only yelling at each other until Snarlof stepped it. Then this idiot got physical. Keep an eye on him though, yeah?"

Judy turned to follow his finger and saw a dull little fox wearing a tuxedo he somehow managed to make boring by his demeanor alone, sitting huddled on a chair as a wolf in a rather dazzling evening dress gently rubbed at his back and spoke softly to him.

 _Well, well_ , thought Judy, _the night just keeps getting more interesting, doesn't it?_

She began moving towards Mr Reir, hoping to find out what had provoked the stoic little fox into a shouting match.


	11. Chapter 11

As Judy drew closer to Reir her ears twitched as she caught the softly spoken words of the wolf, hearing both a tone of comfort and confusion as she gently stroked the fox in the small of his back. Reir stared down at his paws as he fiddled with his cufflinks, seemingly oblivious to his wife's concern.

Although Reir wore a suit that was obviously well tailored, something about the cut and the color made the fox almost fade into the background even when you were looking right at him. He cultivated an aura of boredom, which wasn't to say _he_ was bored, but rather that you would feel dull just by being near the fox.

If Delgato hadn't pointed him out to her, she probably would have walked right past the fox without a second glance.

Judy stopped a few feet away from the couple and cleared her throat to attract their attention. Reir continued to stare down at his paws but his wife turned at the sound, her eyes lighting in surprised recognition as she saw Judy. But her look of upbeat excitement was suddenly tinged with worry as her eyes flicked to Judy's uniform and back to her husband. She squeezed his shoulder and shook him slightly, lowering her mouth to his ear as she spoke, "Forrest, I think the police want another word with you."

Reir blinked a few times, tilting his head back to look at her in a moment of confusion before following his wife's gaze to Judy. His vacant confusion flickered slightly before it was quickly replaced with the cold poker-face she'd dealt with yesterday. He stared silently at her, not bothering with a greeting.

Judy, somewhat annoyed at the fox for his part in the incident that led to Snarlof's injury, stared back at him unflinchingly and let an uncomfortable silence draw itself out. It had no effect on the stone-like fox but she would have continued regardless if not for the increasingly worried glances from his wife. Judy broke first.

"Well, Mr Reir. Feeling a bit high-spirited this evening, are we?"

A sudden snort of laughter drew both their stares as his wife covered her mouth in embarrassment, her jaw clenched tightly as she tried not to laugh as she looked down at her husband in amusement. She turned back to Judy, smiling now.

"Oh, I'm sorry; Officer, Forrest, I'm sorry. I know this is serious but I don't think I've ever heard my husband described as 'high-spirited'."

Judy's annoyance at Reir faltered in the face of his wife's laughter and Judy found herself unable to do anything but smile back at her. She held out her paw to the wolf, "Officer Hopps, ZPD."

"Of course you are," replied the wolf cheerfully, "Kathy Reir, very nice to meet you Officer Hopps. I'm terribly sorry about the argument earlier, it's really not like him."

Judy couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow, "I'd say that's an understatement." She'd only met Reir once, but the fox had left such an impression on her that she would have considered it more likely for a mute to be involved in a yelling match than the emotionless fox.

"Oh, you know my husband then? Forrest, you never said!" she admonished Reir with a mock offended look, becoming relaxed in the face of Judy's friendliness **.** Judy couldn't help but wonder if Reir's dazed behavior had been a result of the argument or of some… _over-zealous_ questioning from Delgato. Judy was pleased Nick had received the welcome he had, but she wasn't naïve enough to believe that it would suddenly change how her colleagues treated all other foxes. Not right away anyway.

"Did you meet through the campaign?" continued Kathy, "I know he can be a little stand-offish but he's a big sweetheart underneath."

"Kathy-" said Reir,

"No, we've been assigned to Mr Ishkar's case," said Judy, a little surprised that Kathy hadn't assumed that initially.

Kathy's smile faltered slightly, her head tilting as if she was trying to understand something that made no sense.

"Kathy, can you go-" said Reir, still in his deadpan voice but now tinged with just a faint hint of urgency.

"A case? But what's that got to do with Forrest?"

It was Judy's turn to look confused, turning a puzzled frown on the fox, "Didn't your husband tell you about the death at his office?"

" _Someone died?"_ gasped Kathy, whirling on her husband, mouth agape. He was staring back down at his paws, fiddling with his cufflinks again but after a brief moment his head nodded in a single, awkward jerk.

"Who? Why didn't you tell me?"

Reir shrugged and mumbled, "It wasn't any of our business. He killed himself."

"Who, Forrest?" pressed Kathy, her voice a mixture of anger and concern.

Reir shook his head slightly, still not meeting her gaze, before suddenly answering in a terse confession, "Ishkar."

"Ishkar? The bully?" she gasped incredulously.

Reir suddenly looked up, his eyes wide and panicked, "He's not a-! I never said that!" His head snapped round to pin Judy with a glare, "I never said that."

"But you said he told all those jokes! And what about all that work of his he dumps on you?"

"It's alright, Kathy, they all make jokes, Ishkar is nothing special." He had stepped close to his wife and had taken her paws in his, looking up into her eyes as his normally deadpan voice spoke soothingly. "And I told you, it was the Councilor who asked me to fill in for him, she needed him for something else."

"It's _not_ alright! Elizabeth trusts you, doesn't she? They shouldn't be making fun of you!"

They weren't quite fighting, not yet anyway, and Kathy seemed torn between anger at her husband for not telling her about something so serious and anger _for_ him at the supposedly poor treatment he received from the people he worked with.

Judy had remained frozen, not wanting to interrupt this new source of information on animosity between Reir and Ishkar. She hadn't ruled out Reir as someone to investigate, but the fox had been pretty low on her list of priorities until right now. But an antagonistic relationship would always bump someone up a few spots on the list.

Reir stood silently, staring at his wife with his mouth half open in a sentence he seemed incapable of starting and Judy guessed she'd never have a better chance at catching the fox so unbalanced.

"Reir, be straight with me," said Judy, taking a chance and drawing the fox's attention to herself, "What do you know about Ishkar? I'm almost sure he didn't jump."

They both turned to look at her. Kathy only seemed to remember Judy in that moment and the look of worry on her face only deepened as she replayed what she'd just revealed about her husband and Ishkar's relationship. Reir still had his mouth half open, on the cusp of saying something, and Judy watched his face as he seemed to be fighting some internal struggle within.

But then his eyes flicked to his wife and her obviously growing alarm. His face hardened as he looked back to Judy, regaining the blank demeanor he had when she'd first met him, but with a distinct flicker of venom in his eyes.

"I've already told you what I know, Hopps, and I've told you what I thought of Ishkar, too. I didn't like him, but I don't like most people. And I don't know anything about his death."

And that seemed to be all she would get out of him, but she held his stare. She had long since learned the value of a silent stare when questioning suspects. Wolford had dragged her into one of the observation rooms once to watch Francine stare a confession out of a suspect. It had taken ten intense minutes of absolute silence but by the end the wombat was a crying nervous wreck. Judy had never seen someone go so long without blinking before and just thinking about it now made her eyes water.

It didn't look like Reir would crack anytime soon, but Kathy did.

"Forrest wouldn't hurt a fly, Officer Hopps, I know he can be a bit rude and intimidating but he really is very gentle," babbled Kathy, smiling nervously at Judy. "He's not like other foxes. He's _good._ "

Judy flinched slightly at that last comment. She wasn't pushing Reir because he was a fox, but because she was floundering in a sea of clues and this was the first thing that might even hint of a motive. Still, it wasn't pleasant to be reminded of her past mistakes.

But she didn't take the comment nearly as badly as Reir did. The fox, who had so recently regained his composure, wilted. It was as if someone had just pulled a stopper out of him and he was slowly deflating, his face a mixture of hurt and shame as he stared wide eyed at his wife.

To Kathy's credit she seemed to realize her mistake instantly, even before looking down to see her husband's reaction. Her paw slammed to her mouth, as if to force back any more words.

"I… I need some air," mumbled Reir as he stumbled away, Kathy instantly following behind him and calling out to him as the disappeared into the crowd.

"Forrest, wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that..."

Judy watched them leave for a long moment before pulling her notebook from her pocket. It had been soaked after their impromptu swim down at the docks, but she'd done her best to dry it down at the station. She'd have to copy what remained of her notes into a fresh book tomorrow. She flicked it open to a crinkly page and wrote.

'Ishkar + Reir = Bad relationship?'

She sighed as she tucked the notebook away again. She might not like the fox, but couldn't help feeling some sympathy for him. She thought back to how angry and betrayed Nick had been after her fiasco of a press conference, and she'd only known him a couple of days by then. Hearing someone you love think you were an exception to your species simply by being 'good' had to hurt a lot worse.

She couldn't help but feel a little twinge of guilt at having been the one to force the statement from Kathy. The wolf almost certainly didn't think all foxes were shifty criminals; people like that tended to be the ones protesting interspecies marriages, not _participating_ in one. But there were definitely a lot of people who did. And not just about foxes.

She thought back on some of the cops she'd teamed up with in the past six months. She liked them and they were mostly great people, but she also couldn't deny that the tact and tone they took on interacting with the public varied a lot on what species they were.

Not that she'd seen anything illegal or outright unethical, but once or twice it had certainly come uncomfortably close to that. No matter if it was suspect, witness or victim, if you were something like a fox or a weasel or a skunk there was definitely a noticeable difference in how her colleagues treated them.

Not that she was entirely innocent either, but she'd learned her lesson the hard way. Through hurting her friend.

She groaned as she rubbed her face, telling herself it wasn't her problem as she already started drafting a mental memo to Bogo about a new staff sensitivity training scheme.

 _It's not like you don't have enough work, right Judy?_

She glared hungrily at a passing waiter, making him flinch involuntarily away from the mammal a fraction of his size as she fought back the urge to tackle the drinks tray out of his hand. All these emotionally intensive conversations were getting to her.

 _Just a few more hours to go and then we have all weekend free._

"Miss Hopps, would you mind you following me, please?"

She turned to see an impressively built leopard in a dark suit looking down at her and tried not to groan audibly.

 _What now?_

This had been a mistake.

A huge mistake.

Nick's claws dug into the wood, leaving deep indentations as he gripped the edge of the table with trembling hands. His entire body was tensed like a spring, desperate to explode and escape. He looked over at Vellari, he never would have imagined his stupid decision to talk to the jaguar would have led to this.

The jaguar had welcomed Nick politely, congratulated him on his graduation and had launched into what Nick thought were a few interesting facts about the architecture of the Artic Hotel.

But then he'd gone on.

And on.

 _And on_.

He'd spent the last five minutes telling Nick about the chemical composition of the ice used in the building's construction. Well, Nick thought it was five minutes, it could also have been since the beginning of time; it certainly felt that long, at least.

 _He's soooo boring!_

Nick had talked to boring people before, but never like this. Vellari was aggressively boring. He was boring with intent. Even when he tried to zone out, the jaguar's melodic baritone just kept drawing him back in; promising a delightful dialogue but bombarding him with the most tedious conversation Nick had ever experienced.

He'd been looking for any chance to flee the conversation but the jaguar just immediately ran from one topic to the next, each as boring as the last. Not more boring, not less boring, the same; and that was somehow worse. Even if it got more boring, at least there would have been some variation; the steady stream of level tedium promised that he'd never escape. This was his life now.

Nick's brain was turning to slush as he listened and he could only wish that it would hurry up the process and release him from this fresh hell.

 _No, a fresh hell would be better than this. A fresh hell would be welcome! This is some sort of intense, concentrated hell of dullness!_

Vellari began to talk about paint, literal paint, and Nick cracked. He'd done his best. He knew how stupid it was to cross someone in a position like Vellari's but he just couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop talking. Stop talking. Please, please stop talking," he babbled, almost on the verge of tears, his mouth running away from him in an attempt to end his suffering. "You're so boring. _You're so boring!_ How are you third in the polls? How are you in this election? How are you _so boring? Please stop talking!_ "

His tensed body collapse weakly into the chair, its overlarge size the only thing keeping him from dripping into a boneless puddle on the ground as he whimpered in relief at the blessed silence coming from Vellari. He'd never felt so good in his entire life.

After several long moments, where Nick slowly returned to the land to the living, he looked over at Vellari, partly to gauge how he had taken Nick's sudden outburst but mostly out of fear that he might suddenly start talking again.

"I'm surprised you lasted so long, Officer Wilde," said Vellari with a smile. "I don't get much of a chance to go into such depth."

"Did you do that on purpose?" asked Nick, almost hoping he had. No-one should be that tedious without trying, it was unnatural.

"Oh no, I genuinely love to talk about it; the building of the city was a marvel, after all, how could one not take an interest in all its wonderful little details?"

"Really, how do you have _any_ support in the election?" asked a thoroughly baffled Nick.

"Usually my staff keep me on track, but they all seem to be busy this evening," said Vellari, looking around the room for his absent staff before turning back to Nick with a gleaming smile. "Lucky you."

"Aha," laughed Nick humorlessly.

"But enough about my interests. How has the first week on the job been for the city's first fox police officer? I'm sure you're aware there are a number of people watching how you'll turn out, and many expecting you to fail miserably," said Vellari in a cheery tone.

Nick straightened back up, wondering if the jaguar was one of those people. Now that he'd stopped attacking with a barrage of tedium, Nick could refocus on the politician. The jaguar was talented enough to secure a sizeable number of supporters; not enough to win or even have a chance of winning, but enough that he couldn't be dismissed like so many of the other minor candidates. He could turn it into a sure thing for Herd or a neck-and-neck fight for Lionheart, depending on who managed to win his endorsement.

Beyond that, there was something in his demeanor that set Nick's street-honed instincts on edge. It wasn't the sort of lethal threat that Mr Big radiated in waves, but dealing with people like Vellari was definitely more trouble than it was worth. You'd go in thinking you were about to score the big one and come out in your underwear, followed by a couple of thugs who escorted you home to collect the rest of your wardrobe.

"I can't complain," said Nick, deciding that it was probably best to exit this conversation as soon as he could.

"I hear that Chief Bogo can be quite the character," grinned Vellari.

"He's alright."

"And no doubt you've been kept busy with all the frustrations around the election?"

"We've been kept busy, but nothing we couldn't handle," Nick replied idly, about to hop off the chair and excuse himself to go and find Judy.

"You're very lucky there's been no mysterious deaths in puzzling circumstances. I'm sure that would be _quite_ troubling."

Nick felt the temperature drop a few degrees and he turned back to Vellari. The jaguar's eyes yellow eyes seemed to glow against his black fur, accompanied by a wide smile flashing at Nick.

Nick sighed internally and settled back into his chair against his better judgement, "You heard about that?"

Vellari gave him a withering look.

"Alright, stupid question," conceded Nick. "What about it?"

"From what I hear, you're having quite a hard time making any progress on poor Mr Ishkar's case."

"It's only been a day," snapped Nick, finding the jaguar's smug smile getting to him. "But I can't really comment on an ongoing investigation."

"Do you need any help?"

Nick's eyes narrowed as he stared back at Vellari, still wary, "What do you know?"

He shrugged, "Nothing really, but I do know people who know things. Or, rather, I know people who know people who know things. I'd be more than happy to find out what happened for you. They really are _quite good._ "

Nick asked the important question, "And what would that cost me?"

Vellari's smile didn't move a muscle, but somehow Nick felt it become distinctly more predatory, "Why _nothing,_ Officer Wilde. I'm just a concerned citizen looking to do his duty."

Nick stared back at him unblinking, waiting. Vellari didn't make him wait long.

"I would like you to remember that, though. That I helped you."

There wasn't a knowing wink or even a slight inflection on how he spoke, but it was clear the jaguar meant Nick.

He wasn't going to help the police, he was going to help _Nick_. Though Nick had no idea why he'd want the newest rookie in the department on his side, it's not like he had any pull at the station yet. Then again, maybe he just saw Nick as an easy mark.

There had been a tiny voice in the back of his head ever since his first day at the Academy, asking when he would slip back into his old ways. It had gotten quieter and quieter as he'd thrown himself into preparing for his new life, but now it was back and louder than ever.

Most cops had contacts, people between the cops and criminals that made a living working for both sides. Hell, Nick had been one in his younger days. You traded in favors with them to make sure the whole system worked. It was a grey area of necessity.

You could trust someone like Weaselton. Well, you could trust him to be untrustworthy and only looking out for himself and to betray you if it earned him a single cent. But, _so long as you went in knowing that_ you could keep one step ahead of him and tiptoe on that line between right and wrong.

A cop owing someone like Weaselton a favor was no big deal. A cop owing a politician a favor was a recipe for ending up like Ishkar.

Vellari was like Mr Big, they had minds like corkscrews. One innocent favor to someone like them would soon have Nick up to his neck in trouble and sinking fast, even as it felt like he was still standing on solid ground.

Hell, it had already happened with Big once, hadn't it? He'd been under the thumb of that little vole for years and still wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten away (though a much more realistic but thoroughly ignored part of himself suggested that he still wasn't entirely free of the little rodent).

They were, _and he'd die rather than admit this to anyone else_ , smarter than Nick and that made them dangerous.

"We still have a few lines of inquiry to follow up, I'm not that concerned," he said, eyes fixed on Vellari's.

Vellari's smile switched from dangerous to friendly in an instant, and it looked so genuine that Nick almost believed it.

"Ah, well, no matter, I'm always available should you require any assistance," he said as he reached into his suit to pull out a business card, scribbling something on it before placing it on the table in front of Nick. "I quite like you, Nick, you should come down to the office tomorrow for lunch. We've leased a charming little place to work out of and I'd _love_ to go over its architectural quirks with you."

Nick shivered at this naked threat of academic tedium when he felt someone move up behind him. He turned to see a large ram looming over him.

"Officer Wilde, the Mayor will see you now," rumbled the ram.

"The _Mayor?"_ asked a puzzled Nick.

"Yes," came the impassive reply.

Nick turned back to Vellari who smiled back with an unreadable expression.

Nick grabbed the card from the table and hopped off his chair to follow the ram.

Judy followed the large leopard, too weary to care about not appearing tough and letting the mammal cut a party through the crowd for her. She'd asked the leopard a few times about who they were going to meet but he'd remained tight-lipped. She wasn't worried for her safety, not in such a public setting, but her annoyance grew as she followed him without any answers. She was just about to demand an explanation when a harried looking Nick arrived beside her, a large ram following jostling the fox from behind and earning increasingly dirty looks.

"Stop pushing, I'm going already!"

"Nick! Where the heck did you go?" asked Judy, finding herself caught up in the ram's herding of her partner. Seeing the uniformity of the leopard and the ram's suits, she guessed they were being brought to the same place.

The fox seemed just as surprised to see her, but replied, "I was kidnapped by that beaver in the Review Committee.

"What? Why? What did he want?" She was mostly confused by the answer, but slightly concerned too. She hoped Nick hadn't made any unnecessary enemies his first week on the job.

He shrugged and kept on walking, earning a frown from her at how closely he still kept his cards to his chest. She let the matter drop for now, but promised herself to follow up on it when she could pester him more privately.

"Did he tell you where he was taking us?" she asked as she jerk a thumb over her shoulder.

"Your goon didn't say?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as she shook her head. "Hm, yeah, I guess they wouldn't."

"Why? Where are we going?"

Nick hesitated for a moment before responding, "Lionheart wants to chat."

Judy halted in place and was nearly sent sprawling across the icy floor as the ram following them almost crashed into her.

"Lionheart?" Her shock at hearing the name quickly replaced with a sulky determination and she glared up at the ram behind her. "Not a chance! I'm not going to meet with that crook! Come on, Nick."

She got one step away before getting yanked back; she was about to give the ram a lecture on what consisted of assault on an officer when she saw it was Nick's hand gripping the back of her collar. Before she could pull free he began to drag her along with him as he continued following the leopard.

"Nick, what're you doing, let go!" She tried to pry his hand off but it was too firm that she couldn't manage it without getting serious.

"C'mon Carrots, we'll have to meet him sooner or later. Guys like him just don't go away."

"But Niiiiick~" she whined as he dragged her after him, wilting at the thought of having to spend any time at all with the slimy politician.

"It's fine, it'll be fun,' he lied, his grip still firm as she made token attempts to tug free.

"Did you know he still calls himself _Mayor_ Lionheart? Like the whole thing never happened!" she said and immediately disliked how snide her voice sounded, especially when Nick answered her with a pitying grin.

" _Fine!_ Fine. But don't expect me to be nice to him," she said as she twisted free of the fox's grip and stomped unhappily after Nick.

The booming joviality of Lionheart's voice announced him long before he was in sight. Apparently being caught red-handed in a conspiracy to abduct his own citizens had done nothing to blunt his gregarious personality. If Judy was honest with herself, that attitude annoyed her more than anything else about the lion.

She could almost accept that the lion had avoided jail-time, although he had been breaking some serious laws the unique circumstances surrounding them had made the whole issue questionable to say the least; but his complete lack remorse for what he had done was what really rubbed Judy the wrong way.

When she'd heard that he'd announced his candidacy for re-election Judy had been shocked at the lion's complete lack of self-awareness, but she'd been even more shocked that people seemed to actually want him back.

There was also the fact that she and Nick had played their part in his downfall, even if it hadn't quite managed to stick. She'd already taken enough hostility from people in powerful positions to last her for the next few months, she wasn't looking forward to whatever Lionheart had in mind to berate them with.

Nick seemed to be actually eager at the prospect of meeting the ex-mayor and Judy remembered that the fox planned to vote for him. She grimaced at the thought of this and sent up a silent prayer to any god that might be listening to make sure Vellari had nothing to do with the case, otherwise she'd have no-one to vote for. She had no clue about the jaguar, but he had to better than the other two alternatives.

They came into sight of the lion as he flashed his shocking grin at a photographer, paw clasped tightly with a fat (even for his species) hippo in a too small suit. As Lionheart turned away from the hippo his eyes locked with Judy's and she expected to see a flash of hatred, or at least dislike, in them. But to her surprise a look of happy enthusiasm met her and within moments the leonine politician was looming over her with all the glowing magnetism she remembered of her first meeting with him.

"Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, my friends, so glad you managed to make it," bellowed the lion, as if they were on the other side of the room and not one foot in front of him. "I appreciate your support, it means a lot to me."

Before Judy could clarify that she'd rather support a rock than the former mayor, Lionheart had stood beside Nick and slapped a paw on the fox's shoulder and pointed off to the side. Nick and Judy turned to follow his gesture and were temporarily blinded by a series of flashes as the pudgy badger photographer fired a series of shots at them, his camera clicking madly.

By the time the spots cleared from Judy's eyes the badger had disappeared into the crowd, off to do who knew what with the photographs. She was about to give Lionheart a piece of her mind but was interrupted by Nick.

"Not at all, Mr Lionheart, I just thought it'd be worth checking in with my first arrest, make sure you hadn't returned to your criminal ways," said Nick with a casual grin on his face.

The surrounding crowd that had up until this point been doing a sterling effort at pretending they weren't eavesdropping on the conversation suddenly dwindled away into silence. Lionheart was a charismatic and likeable leader, but he also had an undeniable temper when roused.

A roar erupted from the lion, causing everyone within a fifteen-foot radius to jump, but it was a roar of laughter.

"No doubt, Officer Wilde, and I'm sure Miss Hopps here says something similar to you on a daily basis."

Judy watched Nick's as Nick returned a laughing bark of his own and a sense of dread rose in her stomach.

 _Oh no. No, no, no. They're not going to become… friends, are they?_

"But if I can be serious for a moment," said the Lionheart as he turned to the crowd at large, his voice adopting a tone that caused all within earshot to pay attention. "Nick Wilde is a perfect example of the kinds of overlooked injustices that go on in this city on a daily basis."

Judy saw Nick flinch as the crowd's combined gaze turned from Lionheart to fall on him, his head sinking into his shoulder slightly and the fur on his neck rising at the sudden unwanted attention.

"Long days, cold nights and empty bellies, Nick was no stranger to any of these, and I'm sad to say many Zootopians aren't either. A young, hardworking fox who never got a decent chance until the Mammal Inclusion Initiative gave him the opportunity to make something of himself."

A scattering of applause swept through the crowd, more to fill the expectant gap Lionheart left than for any real appreciation of Nick. Judy eyed her partner whose expression had soured at the somewhat pitiful way Lionheart had described him.

"It was actually Hopps who suggested I try," said Nick, his tone marginally cooler than before.

"Of course! Officer Hopps! The first rabbit officer and another sterling example of _my_ Mammal Inclusion Initiative. I'd like to publicly state how grateful I am that she never lost faith in me and refused to give up until she cleared my name. It's humbling that such a dedicated public servant holds me in such high regard. I won't let you down Judy."

He gave her look of warmth and camaraderie that was entirely one-sided before turning to sweep the crowd with the same gaze, "I won't let _any_ of you down."

A more enthusiastic applause came from the crowd this time, drowning out the apoplectic sputtering of Judy as she tried to deny any sort of support of the lion.

"Now if you'll excuse us, I need a quick word with the officers before moving on. Vote Lionheart!" He walked off without looking back, allowing his staff to herd Judy and Nick after him and within moments they had left the ballroom and were making their way through the staff corridors at the back of the hotel.

Now that they were away from the crowd Judy tensed herself in in preparation for the lion's true feelings. She'd been put off balance by Herd yesterday, but she wasn't going to back down from someone like Lionheart.

"I'm glad you could finally make it out to one of these," said Lionheart, his tone just a pleasant as before. "We need every bit of help we can get these days, I'm sorry to say."

Judy felt off-balance, like she had gone to kick open a locked door only to find it unlocked and ready to slam open, rebound off the wall and return to smack her in the face as she leapt forward (which had _definitely not happened_ to her a few months ago on a call-out with Snarlof).

"Jus- wait, what?" she asked, running up alongside Lionheart to look up at him.

"Bogo kept saying you were busy whenever I asked him to send you around, but I knew you'd find the time to come out and help someone who had done so much for you," he said, continuing to make his way down the labyrinthine corridors.

" _Done so much for us?"_ she managed to choke through her incredulity, _"Like what?!"_

"Rabbit, please," he said with a hint of disappointment in his voice, "Do you really think you'd have ever made it here if it hadn't been for me?"

"Hey! I worked my tail off to get where I am!"

"Oh, I know you did. But despite all the work you put in, if it hadn't been for my Initiative paving the way you'd still be out in the Triburrows catching carrot burglars or whatever you have out there." He finally looked down at her, "I'm not saying you don't deserve to be here, but you _wouldn't be_ if it hadn't been for me pushing my agenda. Wilde too."

Judy glared back at Nick who was sauntering along behind them as if it had nothing to do with him. She found he was being entirely too passive about getting marginalized so easily, "Back me up a little here, Nick?"

He shrugged, "He's not wrong, Carrots."

And that was the most grating thing about the whole thing, he _wasn't_ wrong.

"I worked hard to get the MII up and running, Hopps, not just because looks great for my career but because I genuinely think it works. You two have proved that on your own merits, and plenty of others are doing the same all over the city right as we speak. I'll admit I can be a little _career-focused_ at times-"

Judy scoffed at the sheer magnitude of this understatement.

"-but I've never done anything less than try to make this city's tomorrow better than today. I'd ask you not to judge all of me on one bad judgement call, after all, we've all made mistakes, haven't we?"

They arrived at a pair of double doors and he held one open to allow them to pass through. Judy stood for a moment, scowling at him as he flashed his perfect politician's smile before stomping through the doorway and out into the cold night's air.

Industrial heaters and an awning kept the side entrance to the hotel free of snow for a few feet, but a howling wind still cut them to the bone. An idling limousine nearby was quickly getting buried in the heavily falling snow.

Maybe she had been a little too harsh on Lionheart. Even if he'd gone about it in a totally idiotic and criminal way, he had been trying to cure the victims of Bellweather's plot, right?

"And there's no need to feel any obligation to me, if that's what you're worried about. I'm more than happy with how it's all turned out already."

"How what's turned out?" asked Judy suspiciously.

"Quid pro quo, I got you into the ZPD and you got me off those charges."

"Hold on," Judy lifted a paw, "We didn't _'get you off',_ we were just doing our job."

She ignored Nick as he let out a choked snort of laughter behind her.

"Right, you did your job and proved my innocence."

"You _weren't_ innocent."

" _Wasn't I?"_ Lionheart asked with a twinkle in his eye and a knowing smile that said, 'We both know I was innocent.'

"No!" howled Judy.

"Well, that was for the courts to decide, thankfully," grinned the lion. "But let's agree to disagree, I don't like arguing with friends."

"We're _not_ friends," growled Judy.

" _Aren't we?"_ Lionheart asked with a twinkle in his eye and a knowing smile that said, 'We both know we're friends.'

" _No!"_ she wailed, throwing her arms up in frustration at the sheer arrogance of the lion.

Maybe she was wrong to condemn Lionheart for his unwitting part in Bellweather's plot (though she still far from convinced on that point), but the lion apparently had plenty of other reasons for her to dislike him.

She felt a paw land heavily on her shoulder and turned to see Nick had moved up beside her, "Not that I don't enjoy seeing Hopps ready to explode from sheer frustration, but was there a reason you wanted to speak to us alone?"

"Yes, thank you Nick, I wanted to see if you'd got anywhere with the investigation?'

This immediately startled Judy back into cop mode, packing away her irritation at the politician for later. "What's it got to do with you?" she snapped.

"What do you mean, "What's it got to do with me?'" asked Lionheart, "They're my offices, after all."

"You… own the offices that Councillor Herd rents?" ventured Nick, and Judy noted in his voice the same sense of bafflement that swept through her.

"What are you talking about?" said the lion, now looking just as confused as the two of them.

"What are _you_ talking about?" asked Judy.

"The break in. At my campaign office. Didn't Bogo put you two on it?"

"Someone broke into your office? _When_?"

Judy tried to rein in her growing excitement. Was this it? The next piece of information that would start knitting their clues together into some sort of actual answer?

Lionheart's brow furrowed deeper in confusion. "Earlier tonight. We had a call from our security company. I thought that..." His voice trailed off as his look of puzzlement was replaced one of apprehension before noticing Judy and Nick's intense scrutiny; suddenly his professional smile leapt back onto his face. "My mistake then, officers. Sorry to trouble you. No doubt it was just some kids up to some trouble on a Friday night. I'm sure Bogo'll get to it when he has time. Our guys and gals in blue are criminally underfunded, you know. I'll make sure to address that once I get back into office. We have so much respect for you, you know?"

Lionheart had been backing away from throughout this entire spiel and had already climbed into the limo, his words muffled by the heavily falling snow and howling winds. Judy hadn't seen someone so eager to avoid any questions since that chubby lynx she'd struck up a casual conversation with on the monorail one day who in fact turned out to be a _very thin_ lynx with his own body weight of catnip taped to his body in baggies under a couple layers of clothes.

Judy knew that anyone who didn't want to talk with the police is someone the police should take an immediate interest in.

Judy raced across the snowy path towards the car, hearing a weary sigh escape Nick along with the sound of loyal footsteps as he followed after her against his better judgement. Despite her focus on the case, she couldn't help feeling a smile tug at the corner of her mouth.

She leapt into the limousine as the door swung shut, Nick close behind her.

Nick hissed and whirled around, clutching his tail protectively and examining it to make sure no hairs were out of place. He'd felt the door brush against it as it slammed shut and he glared up at dark suited security goon who'd almost slammed it shut on him. There were two of them in the car and they were almost entirely interchangeable with the two they'd left outside.

"Hey!"

Nick was about to give the wall of muscle a piece of his mind when the limo lurched into motion and sent him staggering into the seat along with Judy. They clambered up into it and nestled between the two bodyguards as the limo sped up, the icy roads adding an occasional stomach-churning slide as they felt the car turn.

"Really, now, officers, if you needed to be dropped off somewhere you only had to ask, where can we take you?" said Lionheart in a voice with just a slight hint of optimism and a tinge of something else. Sheer exhaustion in the face of Judy Hopps, probably. Nick knew that sensation well.

The interior of the limo was dark, with only the regular illumination of the passing streetlights providing intermittent glimpses of the lion sitting across from them. His eyes and teeth gleamed with equal intensity and in such close proximity Nick felt a simultaneous desire to both follow and flee this lion. It was a bit of a stereotype, the proud, lazy and powerful lion, but Nick was pretty sure Lionheart revelled in the role and played it to the hilt.

Judy, as always, completely ignored any sense of danger and waved an accusatory finger at the lion, "Oho-no, you can't avoid us that easy. What happened at your office?"

Lionheart stared at them both for a long moment and you could almost see the gears in his head ticking away for a few moments before he gave up and the smile on his face fell as a tiredness settled over him. Or rather, the tiredness that had already been there was suddenly revealed.

"It's nothing. Someone apparently forced the lock at the rear entrance. We haven't been down personally, but I called my staff in and they've been going over the inventory for the last few hours. Nothing's missing so far, just a mess that'll be clean by morning. As I said, probably just some teenagers making mischief. Have you heard about my robust youth programme we'll be-"

"This close to the election?" Nick interrupted the lion before he could launch into another campaign speech. To give the old politician credit, it seemed to be more instinctual politicking than a conscious effort to derail them.

Lionheart shrugged, his grin flickering back for a moment. Nick suppressed a surge of admiration for the lion. Nick had told some pretty brazen falsehoods in his time, but he'd never seen one so completely and obviously unbelievable. There was no chance anyone would _believe_ the lion believed in the things he was saying, but you had to admire him for aiming high.

"Cut it out, Lionheart, what are you up to this time?" growled Judy, her finger still waving around wildly, Lionheart eyed it nervously as if it was about to go off.

"Nothing, Officer Hopps, I promise you."

"Is it kidnapping again? You won't get away with it again!"

"Why were you so eager to avoid talking to us about it? You're the one who brought it up to us, after all," said Nick, feeling odd that he was being the responsible one, but knew that Judy had been looking to pick a fight with Lionheart for months and could hardly be blamed for not thinking entirely straight. Plus, he could have fun later on, lording it over her for being the professional one for once. That would be a unique experience.

"As Officer Hopps so eloquently pointed out, I need to avoid any hints of past scandals." Said Lionheart. "I never would have approached you if I didn't think you were there to talk to me about the damned break-in. Things need to run smoothly until this little administrative issue is settled and I'm back in office."

"By administrative issue you mean the election, right?" said Judy.

"Yes."

"The election you're currently _losing_ , right?" she continued, her voice dripping with satisfaction.

"Yes," growled Lionheart through gritted teeth.

"Okay, just wanted to be crystal clear about that," she said. Nick looked down beside as she settled back in the seat, arms folded with a smirk on her face as she glared at the unhappy lion. He suddenly had flashbacks to being blackmailed into helping her. This bunny really knew how to kick a mammal when they were down.

" _Anyway_ ," continued Lionheart, "I really don't mind you looking into it, all I ask is that you be discreet, for old time's sake."

"A person is _dead_ , Lionheart. This isn't something you just-"

"Dead?! Who's dead?" The lion bolted upright, his head almost striking the ceiling of the car.

"An assistant of Herd's," said Nick. "Last night. At her offices."

Lionheart stared at them, his mouth gaping as he sat there speechless for a long moment that kept stretching further. He was either genuinely surprised at the news or he was an amazing liar.

Well, Nick _knew_ he was an amazing liar but that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't shocked too.

Lionheart suddenly turned to his side, his expression a mixture of surprise and annoyance. "Why wasn't I told about this?" he asked a small huddle of shadows beside him.

Just was about to ask the lion if he was feeling okay Nick's eyes readjusted themselves and he noticed the tiny figure sitting entirely motionless, dwarfed by the hulking presence of the lion beside her. If she hadn't been specifically pointed out to him Nick was sure he never would have noticed her. From the feeling of Judy starting in surprise beside him she seemed entirely oblivious up until that point also. What was even more surprising than having someone appear from nowhere was who that person was.

A sheep.

 _What the hell is Lionheart doing working with another sheep?_

Bellweather had plotted against Lionheart and had come within a hairs breadth of getting away with it all. Nick had thought that the last thing the proud lion would want near him was anyone that reminded him of how easily he had been outmanoeuvred.

However, as he studied the sheep he began to realize that she was the furthest thing you could get to Bellweather and still remain within the same species. Her wool was black, trimmed short and stylish and giving the sheep an elegant, sleek look. Her suit was immaculately tailored and the only reason it didn't scream 'expensive' was because screaming was something vulgar people did and this lamb was practically oozing class.

But what was most different from her and Bellweather was the look of undisguised condescension she was directing up at Lionheart. Bellweather had alternated between feigned sycophancy and mad hatred for the lion, but this lamb looked at him as if she was wondering whether it was worth her time to even give him a response.

"We didn't want you getting distracted," she said, her voice clipped and tinged with a mild annoyance.

" _Distracted?_ What if someone had asked me about it? I'd have looked like a fool!" He gestured at Nick and Judy as if to prove his point, his voice rising.

The lamb tensed as she stared back at the lion but she didn't appear to be frightened of the massive predator looming over her. She seemed incredulous that Lionheart would dare to raise his voice at her. A tense silence stretched out as the pair stared at each other.

Nick was sure that if an insect had flown between the two of them at that moment that it would have ignited from the sheer heat of those gazes. Neither turned away, but to Nick's surprise a flicker in Lionheart's eyes signalled that it was the lion who was backing down.

"We've talked about this before, we've picked out everyone who'll talk to you between now and the election," said the lamb, seemingly satisfied with Lionheart's hint of submission. "The only thing all these unauthorized interactions you keep arranging will do is ruin any chance you have."

"But-"

"You've already shown what happens when you're let off a short leash," continued the lamb, riding over Lionheart's half-hearted protest. "Now, do as you're told."

Lionheart looked as if he was about to say something else, but after a moment of hesitation he clenched his jaw tight and sat back, clearly unhappy.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Nick, his curiosity unable to hold back any longer. He'd never even heard hints about whoever this ewe was, yet she seemed more than capable of pushing around the former mayor of the city.

She turned that look of disdain onto Nick and he felt the full force of it before her expression gave way to a more pensive one as she examined Nick and Judy.

"Mayor Lionheart spoke in error. Our offices are going through renovations. There will be no investigation." The lamb spoke in absolutes, as if no-one would argue with her. Nick got the feeling that people rarely did.

Yet Nick didn't really feel any real hostility coming off the lamb. The annoyance she had so openly displayed at Lionheart seemed to have been personally won by the lion (and Nick had no doubt the lion was fully capable of that feat, even if Nick found him likeable).

In fact, under her strange gaze, Nick had the feeling that the lamb didn't have any opinion on him whatsoever. She wasn't angry or pleased or even emotionless, like that weirdo Reir was; she just didn't seem to consider them worth any more than the barest attention.

It annoyed Nick; he didn't mind being disliked (hell, he revelled in it a lot of the time), but he was damned if he was just going to be disregarded. He was about to snap back before he had that weird prickling up the length of his spine that suggested he might just want to choose his words carefully. This lamb was important. Important enough to push Lionheart around and important enough that she wasn't widely known. Nick was suddenly much too aware of the bulky walls of muscle in suits on either side of himself and Judy.

"You don't get to decide what crimes we investigate," said Judy sternly, once again displaying her entirely charming lack of any sense of self-preservation. Nick suppressed a groan as he honestly wondered how the bunny hadn't gotten herself killed by now.

"Now," said the lamb, clapping her hands briskly together as she completely ignored Judy, "We've taken out a restraining order against both of you-"

"You've _what?"_ said Nick and Judy in shocked unison.

"-and any continued harassment of Mr Lionheart will lead to legal action. _Serious_ legal action."

" _He's the one who wanted to talk to us!"_ cried Judy, pointing an accusatory finger at Lionheart who at least had the decency to look embarrassed, but not enough to look either of them in the eyes.

The lamb shrugged, obviously little things like the truth weren't important to her, and waved an impatient 'hurry up' gesture at the muscle on either side of Nick and Judy.

The ram beside Judy put down his window, letting in a burst of fresh pleasant air. Outside the window the grassy hillocks and pastures stretched far out into the horizon. At some point during the conversation the car had left the city behind and was making its way through the Meadowlands.

Nick barely had a chance to admire the scenery before he realized that it was hurtling towards him at a speed that promised a lot of pain in his immediate future. The ram had scooped Judy and Nick with one arm and thrown them out in the same swift movement. Before he knew what was happening his body had already started moving of its own accord, wrapping his arms around Judy and pulling her into his chest and clutching her tightly as they tumbled through the air.

Nick's back striking the ground at the side of the road knocked most of the breath out of his lungs; breaking Judy's fall with his body knocked the rest out. Which wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't bounced and spun and slammed against the ground again.

And again.

And again.

By the time they had come to a complete stop the fox had the faint sensation that his body should be aching all over, but his brain was so rattled that he could barely tell _who_ he was never mind what state he should be in.

A dull roaring filled his ears as he stared up at the night's sky, full of stars. Too many stars. Some of them might have been in his head, it was kind of hard to tell the difference. He felt something struggling in his grip and looked down and was surprised to see a rabbit there.

The rabbit was making some sort of noise; she'd pulled him to his feet and was pawing at him all over with what looked like concern. Shouldn't the rabbit be afraid of him? It was all very strange, but not entirely unpleasant.

Her careful concern might have even felt good if his brain wasn't throbbing and ready to explode out of his skull at any moment

'Nick?' said the rabbit again, seeming to be getting more and more distressed as he failed to respond.

The fox blinked and when his eyes opened again Nick had returned. He looked down dizzily at Judy as she looked over him for any clear signs of obvious injury. He opened his mouth respond to her but everything seemed to be in a haze, like he was operating his motor functions at a distance.

"Judy? I don't feel so good…"

Nick threw up.


	12. Chapter 12

"Nick, maybe we should turn back."

Judy followed after Nick as he wobbled his way up another set of narrow steps, bringing them deeper into the Rainforest District. She'd given up on trying to keep the fox dry as he staggered in and out from beneath the umbrella as they searched for his apartment. At least, she hoped they were heading towards his place and not just wandering blindly through the flooded alleyways. The taxi had dropped them off along the main thoroughfare, the driver saying it was impossible to drive any closer to the address she'd provided.

Before she had a chance to argue with him, Nick had opened the door, fallen out and began stumbling down the nearest alley. Judy had thrown a handful of bills at cabbie and raced after Nick before he was lost in the pre-dawn darkness and heavy rain.

They'd been walking for more than ten minutes now and the area kept getting sketchier and sketchier. The occasional lit window in the buildings they passed was the only indication that the area hadn't been totally abandoned.

Still, it was obvious that trusting a concussed fox to lead them had not been the smartest idea of the evening and they were now thoroughly lost.

It had taken more than a little prodding from Judy for Nick to finally come clean about the details of his years of grifting. Volunteering the information to the tax office about his years of unnoticed income had meant he'd avoided any criminal charges, but had still had years of back taxes to pay off. Still, he'd been left with a pretty generous hoard, he'd been more than smug in showing Judy how much of his ill-gotten gains he'd been allowed to keep.

Enough to rent in a neighborhood better than this one, at least.

Maybe it was because Nick didn't like to spend money? She'd seen the fox go to extraordinary and embarrassing (to her) lengths to avoid paying for a meal. In fact, the only time she'd seen him eagerly part with money was when he was buying one of those awful shirts he wore.

She'd checked in with the station before heading to the hospital with Nick and left it in Clawhauser's capable hands to inform Bogo. She thought she knew the buffalo well enough that he wouldn't blame Nick or herself for getting injured, but the chief would be furious when he heard how some of his officers had been thrown from a moving vehicle and he'd vent that anger on anyone unlucky enough to be close by, even the victims. Best to avoid him until he'd worked it out of his system.

The hospital had been busy when they'd arrived but they were still seen shortly after arriving, one of the dubious benefits of wearing the uniform of the ZPD.

The examination hadn't that long, with a few cursory tests that had left the canid doctor satisfied that Nick had a concussion but that there was no internal bleeding. She'd scribbled out a prescription for some painkillers as she droned out a list of instructions to Judy on how to care for Nick and been out the door and moving on to her next patient before Judy could register what had happened. No offer of a bed seemed forthcoming, the hospital was crowded enough that it didn't need Nick taking up a bed when it wasn't necessary.

Judy herself had come out of the tumble shaken, but relatively unhurt. Nick had held her tight and done a great job at cushioning her fall. She owed it to him to babysit him for a day or two until he could think straight again.

Clawhauser had shown up with a set of Judy's casual clothes grabbed from her locker at the station with a basket of fruit, a copy of Gazelle's new album, 'Old Kingdom', (along with a hurriedly positive critique) and a get-well card with a cartoon tiger wrapped in bandages that said, 'Sorry to hear you feel PAWLY. Hope you're FELINE better soon!' It was that unique type of card-humor that was only funny in an office environment and, even then, usually only funny to the person who bought it.

Ben had circulated it to anyone that had been at the station at that time of night and the card was filled with little messages ruthlessly mocking Nick for get hospitalized in his first week on the job. It had made Judy get a little teary when she'd read them. She was touched at how quickly the fox had been accepted as just another one of the gang. She'd borrowed a pen from a nurse and added her own scathing comment to the collection.

Judy felt her nose twitch as Clawhauser cheerfully recounted how the chief was demolishing the station in unbridled anger. The restraining order the little sheep had threatened Nick and Judy with had been delivered to the station, signed by a judge known to be in Lionheart's pocket and dated several days ago, even though the ink on the signature was still wet.

She almost imagined she could hear the faint roaring of the chief carried on the wind and it said something for how angry Bogo could get that she wasn't entirely sure it was just her imagination. Ben had finally bundled them into the taxi and provided the driver with the vague details of Nick's address that the station had on file and waved them off.

And that had led her to the current predicament. Wandering blindly through waterlogged alleys in the Rainforest district.

"Nick," she repeated wearily as he stumbled over to a nearby building and wobbled his way up to the upper level of apartments. She hurried after him, taking the rickety staircase as quickly as she dared and found him at the end of the corridor pushing weakly at an unmoving door.

A sinking sensation began to creep over Judy as she looked from Nick to the door to the poorly maintained hallway.

 _He couldn't possibly live_ here _, could he?_

Even by the standards of the area this place was pretty bad.

"Nick, where are your keys?" she asked, receiving an incoherent mumble in response. She bit back a sigh and began to frisk the fox, receiving the heel of his paw in her cheek in a half-shove, half-caress that annoyed her on both accounts. She ignored him, batting his weak arms away and began searching his pockets. She fumbled around before managing to find something that felt like they could be keys and was trying to pull them out of a tangle of what felt like every rubber band Nick had managed to steal from the station when she noticed they had an audience.

Two pairs of eyes were staring out at her, one stacked above the other, peering out between a crack in the door of the apartment next door. She couldn't see who they were but she shot them a relieved grin anyway, "Hey there! Sorry if we woke you. You know this guy?" she asked as she nodded at Nick, both worried and a little hopeful that they were in the wrong place.

The two pairs of eyes glanced at one another and held a hurried conversation too low even for her impeccable hearing before turning their gaze back on her, "Do _you?_ " asked a quavering female voice, eyeing Judy warily with her hands deep in the fox's pockets.

Judy yanked her hand out, pulling the keys free along with a few rubber bands and a pair of dice that went spinning and bouncing down the hall as she held the keys up triumphantly. She turned and took a step closer to the pair watching her, only for them to match her with a step back deeper into their apartment. "Yes! Sorry, I'm Judy. I'm Nick's partner. He got a bit knocked around tonight at work and is still kind of out of it. Is this his place?" She gestured back to doorway Nick was still slumped in.

Again, the two pairs of eyes entered into a quiet conference again, just as inaudible as the first one. Finally, the same voice tentatively admitted that yes it was Nick's place, though it sounded like she was hesitant to admit even such a banal fact to her. She turned back to Nick and shook his arm lightly, hoping the fox could vouch for her identity. The best she could muster from him was a mumbled 'Geddoffame Carrots.'

"Well, um, nice meeting you!"

She gave the neighbors another overly bright smile and tried to move past Nick to unlock the door, eager to escape their scrutiny and finally put an end to the long night. Nick remained slouched against the door as her attempts to coax him out of the way were ignored.

She was hesitant to get rough with him after the injuries he'd already incurred and was at a loss of how to get by when she noticed the skunk that had crept up beside her and was timidly waiting to be noticed.

"Do you need some help?"

She was a female skunk, with large brown eyes and short fur that was still unkempt from a night's sleep. The pattern of her black and white fur was very appealing, though her look was somewhat spoiled by the dowdy button-up pajamas she wore. She was slightly larger than Judy but still seemed wary of the rabbit. Behind her stood another skunk, not much larger than the other and wearing a matching pair of sleepwear. He still lurked in their doorway and shifted uneasily from foot to foot, as if he wanted to pull his partner back inside.

Judy stared at the odd picture for a moment, unsure why she was making them so nervous before her face broke into a wide grin, "Could you? He's likely to hurt himself if we don't get him some rest soon."

"I'm Karen and this is my husband Tim," said the female skunk as she moved to help Judy. Her husband followed her but made it a point to keep Karen firmly between himself and Judy, as if his wife was some sort of protective shield.

Judy had plenty of experience with suspects who were nervous around police but this pair's unease had a different flavor to it. They didn't seem nervous that she was a cop, they just seemed nervous in general. Nervous at everything. Or nothing. Or both. She really didn't know what to make of it.

Karen followed Judy's lead as they eased Nick away from the door, though even with the two of them working together it was difficult to lift the dead weight of the fox. Tim slipped in behind Nick and fought with the lock and delivered a few hits to the damp-swollen door as it jammed in the frame. As soon as the door cracked open, Nick slipped bonelessly free of Judy and Karen's grasp and fell backwards to the now opening door and crashing into Tim. As Tim went down with a surprised squawk, Nick stumbled into his apartment.

Judy slipped in after him, following the collapsing trail of newspapers and magazines that indicated the way the fox had went. She left the door open for the skunks as Karen helped her groaning husband to his feet.

Judy was shocked at the state of the apartment. It wasn't the worst place she'd ever seen, but she remembered Nick's smug lecture on how much of his cash he'd been allowed to keep and from what she recalled Nick spent on rent it should be a whole lot better than this.

To be fair, the clutter he'd spread throughout the apartment on any surface flat enough to hold it didn't do the place any favors. However, the mess didn't explain the peeling of paint on the walls, the weird damp patch in one corner of the ceiling or the exposed floorboards where it looked like someone had just torn up part of the carpet. She looked back at Karen and Tim who were still navigating around the small avalanche of paper that crowded the hallway; neither seemed surprised at the poor state of the apartment.

 _Are all places around here this bad? What's their landlord doing?_

Her eyes took in the large window looking out over the Rainforest canopy as the deep darkness of night slowly began to fade into the pre-dawn light. The place may have been a dump, but she had to admit that the view was pretty incredible. Not worth living-in-this-health-hazard-incredible, but still nice.

She followed the fox into his bedroom to find Nick trying and failing to get into bed as he became more and more entangled in his bedsheets, snarling animalistically as his frustration grew. She hurried over to him and slapped his paws from doing any more damage and started to pull the sheets off him. She frowned at his uniform and pushed him back slightly so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, untangling him from the sheets.

She returned to the main room to find the skunks standing close to each other as they looked around the apartment warily.

"Tim, do you think you could help Nick get out of his uniform?" Judy asked.

The skunk looked like he'd just been caught in a set of headlights as Judy asked for him by name. He turned with a panicked look to his wife who nodded at him gently and gave him a little push in the direction of the door. Tim stumbled towards the bedroom, repeatedly glancing back at his wife with disbelief, hunching down as small as he could in what Judy thought was a vain attempt to somehow hide behind himself. Judy didn't know what to make of it.

She moved into the kitchenette and started to go through Nick's cupboards, taking an inventory of what he had in stock. There wasn't much.

"Are you and Tim friends of Nick? I haven't met a lot of them. Just Finnick. Nick says I'd be bad for his reputation if people knew about me." She laughed to let Karen know that Nick had been joking when he'd said that. At least, Judy _thought_ it had been a joke.

Karen stood half-hidden by the counter that separated the cooking space from the rest of the room and nodded. "Yes. I… think we're friends. He's always been polite. Tim likes him."

Judy stopped her search of the fridge to give the skunk a disbelieving look. Her husband had looked like he was walking to his execution just a moment ago. Karen shrugged, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, "He's just a little shy."

Judy didn't point out that Karen seemed ready to bolt behind the counter at any moment, going back to her search.

"How long have you and Nick been partners? He's never mentioned you," said Karen before hurriedly adding in a worried voice, "Though he hardly ever says anything personal about himself anyway!"

Judy laughed and rolled her eyes at the thought. At least it wasn't just her the fox was so close mouthed with! She wondered how much Finnick knew about him and if there was any way to get the fennec to spill the beans.

"Well, unofficially, about six months or so, I guess. I… ran in to him during my first week here," said Judy, glossing over the exact details of the first few encounters, happy that the skunk seemed completely unaware of the Nighthowlers case. "Things just kind of snowballed and here we are now."

The fridge contained a single can of tuna, well past its expiry date, and a variety of spices and herbs that were useless on their own. Judy gave up on the search for anything edible in the apartment. If Nick was hungry when he awoke she'd get something delivered. Or worse, rely on the over-ripe fruit provided by the station's get-well basket.

"I hope this doesn't put Nick off the idea of being a police officer," said Judy, voicing a concern that had been lingering at the back of her thoughts since her wait at the hospital. It wasn't anything too serious, but still a rough welcome to anyone new to the job. Then again, he'd gotten through _her_ first few weeks on the job easily enough and this was like a walk in the park compared to that.

Well, maybe not 'easily', but intact.

Mostly intact.

"He really wants to be a cop," said Karen suddenly, voice quavering slightly at offering an unsolicited opinion. "I think. Tim and I couldn't believe it when he started jogging in the morning. We've lived next to him for years and we'd never heard him move until near noon. Now he runs all the time. He's worked hard for it."

Judy gave the skunk a grateful smile and nodded.

"Are you the reason he… changed his career?" asked Karen, her tone unsure as to whether Judy knew her friend's shady past.

Judy laughed again at Karen's wariness and half-nodded half-shrugged. "I suppose in a way. I might have given him a tiny push." She didn't like to take credit for Nick's work, but couldn't see how else the fox would have jumped from swindler to cop in a matter of months. He'd gone the distance, but she'd provided the direction.

Karen nodded enthusiastically; the suspicions she had held, confirmed. She was biting her lip and opened her mouth to say something when Tim scurried back into the room, beaming proudly as he hurried back to his wife. His smile wavered nervously when he remembered Judy was there, but remained clear on his face. "Nick's cleaned up," he muttered to his wife.

"We'd better leave you two alone, it looks like it's been a long night," said Karen. "Nice meeting you, Judy.

"Likewise," said Judy. "I'm sure we'll see much more of each other now Nick can't hide us from each other anymore. Thanks for the help, Tim."

Karen looked delighted at this prospect, which contrasted with the look of terror on Tim's face. He almost visibly flinched at being addressed directly, but nodded at a cupboard several feet to the left of Judy in acknowledgement of her thanks.

Karen ushered her twitching husband towards the exit and Judy heard them struggling to close the door behind them. After a few loud slams the latch caught and they were gone.

Judy turned back to find Nick standing in the doorway of his bedroom in a vest and pair of boxers, staring blankly into the room through half-lidded eyes and sniffing the air deeply. His head rolled slowly, as if he was picking out one scent in particular.

His head lolled from side to side as his nostrils inhaled deeply, his entire being seeming to be dragged around by his snout as it sought out one particular scent that seemed to surpass all others. Hers.

Judy shivered as she watched the subconscious movements of the fox as he locked his attention on . He was her friend and her partner but something about his movements spoke to a deeper part of her instincts that told her to run. To hide. To flee! Escape! To keep ahead of the slowest of the nest in her made break for life!

But…

Another, very different part of her was yelling that she wanted to be caught. That her place in the cycle of nature was as prey for this hunter.

Luckily this strange foolishness only washed through her for a few strange seconds. She pointed at the mostly bare couch in the center of the room and frowned at the fox and commanded, a little shakily, 'L-lie down. Rest.'

The same uncertainty that had washed through her seemed to attack the fox and he stared at her for a long moment. Judy watched intently as his muscles tensed beneath his fur. Each tense and strong sinew of muscle as it unfolded and prepared itself…

But only because there was nothing else to catch her attention, after all! She really had no choice but to watch the fox as he stretched and groaned, the aches and pains of the night's tumble catching up with him again as he followed her directions to sprawl himself on the couch, mumbling an incoherent commentary to himself the entire time.

For some reason Judy found herself swallowing heavily a few times as she watched Nick sprawl, then curl, the sprawl again on his battered, cluttered couch.

 _I must be hungry_ , she thought, and hurried over to the fridge to grab some of the over-ripe peaches.

Tim practically fell back into their apartment, so eager to get back to a familiar place that he could barely wait for the door to open the whole way.

"I don't think I've spoken that much to a stranger in months!" He sounded exhausted, as if he'd just run a marathon. Karen grinned and gave his head a quick, affectionate hug as she walked past him that muffled his tired excitement. She had been surprised he had done so well. She knew that she could get a little nervous around people, but Tim found it nearly impossible to interact with anyone besides her and his close family. She had felt a little guilty for abandoning him when Judy had asked him to help Nick change, but she was indescribably proud that he had managed to go off without her. It had helped that he and Nick were on speaking terms, which was rare for her husband.

Their apartment had the same layout and poorly maintained look as Nick's, though it wasn't for lack of trying. But any attempts to improve the apartment were futile as paint faded, wallpaper peeled and mold grew within days. It was as if the entire apartment building had decided it liked the rundown look and wasn't going to let a silly thing like its tenants decide otherwise.

"Judy seems like a nice girl too. I bet she'll be a good influence on him," said Karen, as she filled a glass of water and handing it to her excitable husband who took it and gulped it down eagerly.

She had been shocked when they'd peered out the door to find Nick and the rabbit closely entwined. Karen had never known that Nick was into _prey_. She'd never gotten that vibe off him. Then again, he rarely brought anyone back to his place so it wasn't like she had much evidence to suggest otherwise.

Karen had never known anyone who was into interspecies relationships, though she'd always kind of suspected her brother might have been after those _magazines_ she'd stumbled across in his room when they were teenagers. But it was hard enough for a skunk to pair of with another member of their own species, never mind one an entirely different one, so her suspicions had never been confirmed. The popular interpecies prey were types like antelopes, buffalo or rabbits. Elegant, strong or cute.

Not skunks.

"I was surprised at how open she was about the whole thing too. I heard that some people are really opposed to that sort of thing, but she just came right out and told me," continued Karen, finding she'd developed a faint admiration for how outgoing and sociable the bunny had been. "She told me they'd been partners for half a year! I can't believe Nick didn't say anything!"

"Maybe she meant they were partners in the police?" said Tim, smacked his mouth loudly, having drained the glass.

"Oh, don't be silly, Tim, they'd never let a bunny be a police officer. I'm shocked Nick managed to get in, to be honest."

It wasn't that she didn't think Nick wasn't competent enough to do the job, she just knew how hard it was fight the sort of discrimination people like them faced. And there was no way they'd let someone as cute and fragile as Judy into the police.

"Really? I thought there was something in the news a few months ago," yawned Tim as he wandered back to the bedroom.

Karen wasn't listening to him as she stared at the wall between their and Nick's apartment. She wondered how, well, ' _compatible'_ Nick and his girlfriend - -

She banished the thoughts as a wave of embarrassment overcame her. It was no business of Karen's what they got up to! No matter what some of those morality advocacy groups argued, she and Tim valued their privacy and wouldn't begrudge anyone else theirs'.

She raced to the kitchen and turned on the radio, setting the volume low enough that it shouldn't leak into Nick's place, but hopefully loud enough to drown out any noise coming the other way.

Nick _had_ seemed pretty out of it, but everyone knew what they said about rabbits after all…

She scurried after her husband and climbed into the overly large predator bed that had come with the half-furnished apartment. After a brief fight with her husband's tail, she snuggled in behind him and held him close.

She hoped things worked out between Nick and Judy, it would be nice to have a new friend who came to visit.

She thought back on the last time she and Tim had gone out. They'd went to see a film and although the place had been packed there had been a noticeably empty ring of seats surrounding the pair that no-one had wanted to sit in. No-one had said anything, but the numerous sideways glances and theatrical sighs had made the two-hour film feel like an eternity. The film had been the latest in a series that Tim had loved, but ever since that night he hadn't re-watched any of them. She worried about him sometimes.

"Maybe we could all go out for a date together, sometime," she murmured to Tim and felt his entire body tensing in her embrace at the suggestion. She held him tighter and muttered soothingly in his ear, " _Maybe_ , okay? Maybe. Just… think about it."

They lay in bed for a few minutes of silence, his tension slowly unwinding as sleep claimed Tim again. Karen soon followed as the warmth of the rising sun beamed in through their bedroom window.


End file.
